Bottom Line on the Winter Olympics

[skier]

This year NBC will lose money:


Network, Rights Fee, and Advertising Revenue (in US$ millions):

2010 Vancouver: NBC $820 $750 (estimate)
2006 Turin: NBC $606 $930
2002 Salt Lake City: NBC $545 $740
1998 Nagano: CBS $375 $590
1994 Lillehammer: CBS/TNT $300 $360

[Mike]

Not just NBC is losing money, I was told the shops in Whistler are reporting drop in business. :rolleyes:

[skier]

2010-01-29 news:

Snow or no snow, freestyle skiing and snowboarding at Vancouver's Cypress Mountain will go forward.

Crews are working around the clock using natural and man-made snow to ensure courses are ready, Tim Gayda, vice president of sport for the Winter Games, said Thursday.

"We are running these events at Cypress," Gayda said. "We have no intention of moving from that venue. We have enough people and enough snow to get the job done."

Unseasonably warm, wet weather in the Vancouver area has been a worry for organizers in recent weeks. Cypress Mountain was closed to the public 2 1/2 weeks earlier than planned to protect the snow.

More than 300 dump trucks of snow have already been used to create courses, and straw and wood are being laid to create bases for the snow.

[B2L2]

I saw a picture of Cypress from newspaper. The slope for competition is pretty well covered, with lots of straw/wood/whaterver being used as the base platform.

The news mentioned that they have plans to protect the slope, include huge plastic sheet to cover it from rain. Chemical is being mentioned which could be use to extract moisture out from the snow if needed.

[B2L2]

Yesterday TV news showed that they are trucking snow from Manning Park over to Cypress, which requires 3 hours drive. This snow trucking will continue for days when news reported ask VANOC (Olympics committee).

I think they are preparing for the coming warmer days being forcasted (~8-9 c).

[carver_hk-ski]

just wondering how those WC racers cope with soft wet snow. :)