I was experiencing an Olympics “overload” last weekend when I suddenly and unexpectedly regressed back to my platform shoes, Donny Hathaway apple hat wearing days when I was performing in Harlem and the lyrics from a early seventies tune crept into my brain.
Do any of you remember these socially enlightening lyrics? Wall Street losin’ dough on ev’ry share. They’re blaming it on longer hair. Big men smokin’ in their easy chairs, on a fat cigar without a care. But that’s what makes the world go ’round, the up and downs, a carousel.
Changing people’s heads around, go underground young man. People make the world go ’round.” (Lyrics from the Stylistics song, “People make the world go round.”)
All the flag waving, gold medal biting profiles seemed to be a bit over the top for me. I know some of you have to be thinking the same thing. “Hold up, hold up,” as my great nephew Jamal Williams (who by the way has not yet reached his third birthday) might say; “I got a plan.” Yes, Jamal is right. I do have a plan to have a little chat with “yous guys,” if you don’t mind.
During the “O-games” on my many trips to the “john” and the fridge, I had time to think about this article during one of the many commercial breaks. There were so many breaks, as far as I am concerned the many interruptions bordered on being perverse.
Eric Chemi wrote this for businessweek.com on Feb. 7. “Ad spending for the Olympics is exactly the opposite [of the Super Bowl]. While Super Bowl ads averaged $4 million, Olympic ads will be much cheaper—around $100,000 per spot, according to new research (PDF) from Kantar Media. Two weeks’ worth of games allows for a mass-market approach to buying and selling commercials. Instead of the pricey and precious approach of purchasing a limited quantity of Super Bowl ads, the Olympics will see about 11,000 ads run across NBC’s networks. There will be hundreds of hours of events to fill across multiple channels. Estimates put NBC’s total Olympic pull at a cool $1 billion, with a cost of about $775 million to pay for rights (and another $100 million to produce).”
Are these “games” supposed to profile “amateur” athletics?
I covered the recent Pitt/Syracuse hoop game and there was a reception for the “fat cats” prior to the game, complete with a fully stocked alcoholic beverage bar. The NCAA had better give some of that gravy to the athletes.
In about 10 days, more or less “March Madness” will begin and; the wheels on the “bucks” not the “bus” will definitely be going round and round.
An article written by Anthony Crupi for adweek.com titled: Show Me the Moneyball: March Madness Generates $1 Billion in Ad Sales Kantar Media study puts college hoops at the head of the class.
Mr. Crupi writes that: “Last year’s haul [2013] put March Madness over the top for the first time. Per Kantar estimates, the college hoops tourney just edged the aggregate ad spend in the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl ($976.3 million), while handily out earning the two-month NBA postseason ($536.9 million) and October baseball on TBS and Fox ($354.1 million). The 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs generated around $101.1 million in ad sales revenue.”
See folks all of that flag waving, alma mater song singing does not mean jack because in the end; “big men smokin’ in their easy chairs, on a fat cigar without a care,” are gonna get theirs by hook or by crook on the backs of the “young un’s.”
See ya, bye.
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741.)
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