On the Way to Olympics
Vonn's Injury Poses More Olympic Opportunity Than Threat for NBC
Lindsey Vonn’s absence from next year’s Olympics would be a big blow for Comcast Corp.’s NBC unit -- and an opportunity.
The attempt by the 29-year-old American to defend her Olympic downhill skiing gold medal is in jeopardy after she reinjured a surgically repaired ligament in her right knee in a training crash two days ago at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Vonn is being marketed as the biggest star of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and it’s in the best interest of U.S. Olympic broadcast rights holder NBC and her sponsors to keep her that way, while recognizing other promotional avenues for her, said Bob Dorfman, executive creative director at San Francisco’s Baker Street Advertising.
“Considering that Vonn is being called ‘the face of the Sochi Games,’ not competing would be rather disastrous for her and her marketers,” Dorfman said in an e-mail. “If she doesn’t compete, I guarantee NBC will give her plenty of face time: in the broadcasting booth for ski events, as a roving reporter in the Olympic Village, ‘Today’ show correspondent, anywhere and everywhere.”
Dan Masonson, a spokesman for NBC, declined in an e-mail to comment on a possible role for Vonn with the network. NBC has hired two-time Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir to commentate on the sport at the games, while Maria Sharapova will be an NBC reporter, Forbes said Nov. 13. The tennis player, 26, was born in Siberia and moved with her family to Sochi when she was 2.
Source: Bloomberg
The attempt by the 29-year-old American to defend her Olympic downhill skiing gold medal is in jeopardy after she reinjured a surgically repaired ligament in her right knee in a training crash two days ago at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Vonn is being marketed as the biggest star of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and it’s in the best interest of U.S. Olympic broadcast rights holder NBC and her sponsors to keep her that way, while recognizing other promotional avenues for her, said Bob Dorfman, executive creative director at San Francisco’s Baker Street Advertising.
“Considering that Vonn is being called ‘the face of the Sochi Games,’ not competing would be rather disastrous for her and her marketers,” Dorfman said in an e-mail. “If she doesn’t compete, I guarantee NBC will give her plenty of face time: in the broadcasting booth for ski events, as a roving reporter in the Olympic Village, ‘Today’ show correspondent, anywhere and everywhere.”
Dan Masonson, a spokesman for NBC, declined in an e-mail to comment on a possible role for Vonn with the network. NBC has hired two-time Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir to commentate on the sport at the games, while Maria Sharapova will be an NBC reporter, Forbes said Nov. 13. The tennis player, 26, was born in Siberia and moved with her family to Sochi when she was 2.
Source: Bloomberg
