Tokyo shift

Hi Quartz readers,

The Tokyo Olympics will kick off in 10 days without any spectators, as the Games’ host city contends with its fourth state of emergency. Short of another postponement, it’s a worst-case scenario for TV networks hoping the Olympics might buck the trend of lackluster sports ratings during the pandemic.

“The experience is going to be sterile,” Rick Burton, chief marketing officer of the US Olympic Committee for the 2008 Beijing games, told Quartz. “The sponsors are going to be thinking the ratings will be down. They’re worried they’re not going to get their money’s worth.”

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