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© Thomson Reuters 2021.
NBCUniversal CEO says Tokyo Olympics could be most profitable ever for company
By Helen Coster NEW YORK©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
34 Comments
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snowymountainhell
This says it all:
“…Tokyo Olympics could be most profitable ever…” -Sure. The ‘people of Japan’ paid the majority of the costs.
drlucifer
Everybody? Count me out. Not going to watch it.
rainyday
Oh yeah, THAT is why we’ve spent the last year and a half living under a government that has dragged its feet instead of doing something to stop COVID at every turn. NBC’s bottom line.
Don’t watch these stupid games on TV, it’ll only encourage them.
Boku Dayo
"PROFITABLE"...says it all, doesn't it?
divinda
"everybody forgets all that" : How to create a super-spreader event in one easy step!
dbsaiya
Pretty callous comment considering the real concerns of the host nation's populace and medical community. Let's all watch how Japan deals with this block party; voyeurism on a global scale...
Darius
Yea, most of which are not worried about a deadly virus that's spread globally.
Sam Watters
Pretty tone-deaf even by CEO standards but then the IOC and this NBC shrill are a new level of swine.
Alfie Noakes
It seems NBC has added a new sport to the Olympics: clambering over the corpses of the dead and dying to grab a "record profit".
Let's hope his comments are splashed all over the Japanese media.
Richard Gallagher
The city of Atlanta's citizens being inconvenienced or Londoners concerned about traffic, is not in league with 80% of an entire nation opposing the games during a pandemic.
Zika, is spread by mosquitoes and hardly in the category of a worldwide, ongoing epidemic stretching out over 18 months and eventually into two years.
CEO Shell repeats the same mantra as his fellows, everyone will be happy, once the games commence and tries to shift 'the narrative' through being dismissive, by citing the various annoyances that have confronted the games and were of no consequence.
The continual harping that half of the citizenry believe the Olympics will take place, as if that is a means of approval, is another means of spin, nowhere is the 80% opposition figure cited.
These are The Comcast Covid Games. Why are the games taking place during a pandemic is the 1.25 billion dollar question: and the answer is the 7.65 billion contract between the IOC and Comcast and the immediate payout of 4.5 billion to the IOC, by NBCU. Infrastructure and support are a 25 billion dollar outlay to the Japanese taxpayers. The loss is borne by Japan within the public and private sectors.
Meanwhile, atop the suffering and economic loss: NBCU, generates the largest profits ever for Olympic broadcasts. 7,000 hours of events. How many individuals does that require?
garypen
Right? What do doctors and scientists know about infectious diseases?
I've done my research...on YouTube!!! Derp derp derp.
theFu
That's what happens when your political leaders put in a bid, and win, to host the games.
When the games came to Atlanta, I was living here. The locals didn't want them. They were tired of it after all the spending, inconveniences, and traffic. As a local, I only got to see 2 events - very early - no finals. Had 4 family members move into a 1 bdr apartment for 2 weeks. I'd moved to the area just a few months before. The housing market was full of restrictions to prevent people from buying a house and charging 5x the normal price for 2-3 week rental. It was messed up.
That's part of the price.
HBJ
I have two words for the NBC CEO - one would result in this post being moderated. The other is off.
shogun36
Wow, pretty impressive considering there’s less than 400 actual hours in a span of 16 days.
Well Christmas came early for them, huh? Hooray!!!! And considering this may be one of the least profitable years for Japan and it’s people, it’s sounds like a fair trade off………..
anon99999
Everything about these Olympics stinks to high heaven but this is just too disgusting. Can they chip in with some of their record profits to compensate the Japanese taxpayer for their biggest ever Olympic record losses?
robert maes
I was told it would come with old age, the onset of memory loss. Because, Mr Shell i do not remember that prior to the London or Rio Olympics nearly 4 million people died of an infectious disease. Neither a world locked in upon itself for 18 months. Thank you for clarifying to me that covid is nothing more than a little nuisance for the Olympics. We are so sorry to have caused you all this inconvenience in Japan. Please forgive our friends and family members for dying in such an inconvenient way for you
theResident
NBC is The feed for the world - Everyone takes it, Everybody uses it. They are only broadcaster. Everyone else just purchases the bits they want, overlays their own graphics etc. That's why @Hiroshi13
plasticmonkey
Jeff Shell's compensation in 2020: $16.5 million
Average nurse's annual salary in Tokyo: $50k
Jeff Shell is 330 times more important than a nurse, and works 330 times harder.
Kuruki
Geez... it's all just about money ain't it
Crashpilot
Great, thank you Mr. Suga, thank you Mr. Bach, goal achieved.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are the most successful already.
Sports, Athletes, what do you mean? That does not matter, the only thing that counts is money.
rainyday
Probably the fact that they aren't holding massive sporting events which concentrate tens of thousands of people from over a hundred countries into one of the most overcrowded cities on Earth has also helped, yes.
Hammako
Saying the quiet part out loud I see. Of course there’s a cost, but who cares as long as it’s one he doesn’t have to bear.
James Robert Jones
Our tax money pays for the farcical games, and for foreign companies like this one they'll be the most profitable ever. Forget that the vast majority of us DON'T want the games. Profit for foreign companies apparently trumps the wishes of the people.
theFu
If Tokyo didn't want the games, they shouldn't have bid to hold them.
Japan decided to have the games when they could have canceled last year and eaten the loss then. At this point, it is literally too late to stop and has been since January.
theResident
@theFu - Japan didn't 'decide' to have the games. They made a very expensive bid for them and then signed the contract binding them to hold them. They are not Japans Olympics , they are the IOC's Olympics. Only they can cancel and then take the financial hit which they are not prepared to do. If Japan cancels the financial hit is astronomical and only down to Japan. so...back to this article, NBC have the broadcasting rights which they pay the IOC for but generate an awful lot of advertising revenue for themselves.
It hasn't been too late since January, its been too late the moment they signed the contract.
Antiquesaving
Montreal's Olympics were one of the worst financial disasters in Olympic history.
Economist are saying even adjusting for inflation, currency and population Tokyo will be even bigger.
It took Montreal 30 years to pay off the games including special taxes, etc.. as neither the province of the country was ready to get involved in that mess.
We are in for a long hard next few decades as Tokyo tried to work it's way out of this mess.
But then who cares NBC and the IOC will get their billions and that is what is important to the rah rah rah Olympics spokespeople here.
theResident
Thats right. The same every 2 years. Save your anger for something more meaningful.
smithinjapan
And now they say the quiet part about the "why continue" out loud.
Mirko
@rainyday We actually hold a lot of sports events. Euro2020 football is now currently running all around the continent, with fans flying in all those host cities. Aside from the UK being the DERP, Mr. @garypen was referring to who has people wearing no masks, having no common sense, here in Europe situation si WELL WITH LARGE SCALE EVENTS TAKING PLACE.
Certainly events with a lot more than just "10.000 spectators"
So before you guys think you are smart because some scientist in need for attention would warn of a scary apocalipse, just know the virus will be around us for the next 100 years with many mutations and variants. That should not stop our lives, and we should take PERSONAL PRECAUTIONS, to limit ourselves from the infection/re-infections.
What you guys are suggesting and it saddens me is to close everything because people are too stupid to actually take precautions. Well if that is your view, not to believe in the freedom of choice, you should look at communist regimes. Trust me is not what you want. Most people get infected because out of their wagamama-ness are just trying to live their 100% normal lives. There are 2 extremes, close everything do nothing, and live as before with no restriction. I don't advocate for either, but for a middle solution, inform people and make rules for them to use precautionary measures(mask, avoiding crowded areas, etc.) while slowly relaxing bans on events, bars, restaurants. Use masks, testing as a measure of prevention, use vaccine once you have it, as a measure of prevention.
If I am derping my way through information, I'm sorry, as a medical staff who chose the R&D and business side.
GW
Shell is clearly on nasty SOB!!! He doesnt care one bit the ABUSE that has rained on Japan since the beginning of 2020 to today & more to come!
I call on NBC to donate ALL its profits to the people of JAPAN!!!!
Hiroshi13
Lat time I checked, NBC doesn't have a broadcast affiliate in Japan so why would anyone here even care?
theResident
Oh! The 'Outrage' Most of you will watch it once it starts.
Mirko
I can't wait for sweet justice when all of you will be amazed how NOTHING WILL HAPPEN after the Olymics.
I have been watching so many people fearing this pandemic in the past month without having real facts in their hands just "fears from doctors and scientists".
I'm looking at most countries in Europe that have less than 20% fully vaccinated with less than 3500 active cases and 50 new cases per day. You think is just the vaccine?
Also, why would you get infected at the Olympics and not at a MeetUP event or other events young people go to? How about Shibuya and Shinjuku Clubs? Not there either?
So once again, the isolationists are blaming gaijins for bringing and spreading corona.
Nothing bad will happen. Nothing at all. But time will tell, and prove me right.