But back to sporting events, it's tricky, and those responsible for winning medals are not responsible for attention or viewership.
Emma Hayes is on a mission to change the fortunes of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team. To do that, she can't come to Paris with the same squad that was eliminated from last year's World Cup after winning just one of four games. Alex Morgan, American soccer fans adore you, and you deserve it. NBC wants your familiar face on the air. It doesn't matter. You're at home.
The Paris Summer Olympics are just four weeks away, and like every Olympic Games, they'll be filled with extraordinary performances from established and newer stars like Step Forward's Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Noah Lyles. The Olympics never follow a script. That's the purpose and beauty of them.
But the U.S. missed three real chances in the run up to the Olympics. New women's soccer coach Hayes chose to fire Morgan, the man who helped lead the U.S. women's national team through its glory days and who, in Hayes' eyes, could no longer bring glory. Women's basketball's arguably most prominent star, Caitlin Clark, didn't make the Olympic team. And Asing Mu, the graceful and captivating cash medalist in the 800 meters, fell during the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials and was left off the team in her signature event.
The Olympics will succeed or fail not because Alex Morgan didn't make the soccer team or because Asing Mu stumbled on the track at Oregon. But consider this: The past three Olympics (the Winter Olympics in South Korea and Beijing, and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo) were held in Asia, where the time difference in the U.S. was unbearable for many viewers to watch in real time. The past two (Japan's postponed games in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Winter Olympics in China the following year) were held in empty venues because the pandemic limited attendance.
Paris should return to normal. But it's a new normal. Since NBC committed to broadcasting six Olympics between 2022 and 2032, consumers have moved further away from the single-screen, terrestrial viewing experience. Having more familiar characters to follow could help get more people to sit on their couches and turn on their TVs.
This doesn't mean, for example, that Morgan should have been on the football team or Clark should have been on the basketball team. Mew's fate, determined by the cruelty of athletics, where there are no second chances, is much more straightforward. Morgan and Clark's decisions were made based on athletic ability. There's cruelty there, too.
“Obviously, it was a difficult decision given Alex's history and track record with this team,” Hayes said in a conference call with reporters, “but I wanted to go in a different direction.”
The direction is decidedly young: Morgan, the mother of a 4-year-old daughter, turns 35 next week. She started all four of the U.S.'s matches at the 2023 World Cup but did not score. Hayes, a London native, is not here just because the U.S. failed to reach the quarterfinals at a World Cup for the first time. She's here because the program needed to reboot after a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and disastrous losses to New Zealand and Australia last year.
That's the exact opposite of what the women's basketball team was looking for, a team that has won seven Olympic gold medals since Atlanta in 1996. This year's roster includes six members of the team that won in Tokyo, as well as 42-year-old point guard Diana Taurasi, who is seeking her sixth gold medal.
“Good perspective and continuity are very important,” USA Basketball Association CEO Jim Tooley told The Associated Press. “That's why we've had success in the Olympics.”
Football team approach: It's broken, so let's fix it. Basketball team approach: It's not broken, so what do we need to fix?
Now it remains to be seen whether these tactics work.
There's a lot to see in Paris: the incomparable Biles returns to the gymnastics event that plagued her in Tokyo; Ledecky returns to the pool for her fourth Olympic Games, looking to add to her seven gold medals; and Lyles is in great form on the track, aiming for gold in the marquee sprint races.
But the U.S. team that floats down the Seine during the opening ceremony will be without some of its most famous athletes. That might not be enough to draw viewers, but who cares if it means more medals to come?
