Andrew Millán
BLOCK 4
Step 4
I. Introduction
Athletes make major sacrifices during their athletic career, and in 1980 they had to make the ultimate sacrifice and were forcefully withdrawn from the Olympic Games. The relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States at this time was very tense. The Soviet Union wanted to maintain a friendly and socialist government on its border, and with Afghanistan in the midst of a civil war, the Soviets would be able to support the war and influence a socialist government. The Soviets then invaded Afghanistan, and the United States responded with the threat to not send a team to the Olympics, which are to be held in Moscow, if Soviet troops are still in Afghanistan by the end of the month. The Soviets do not comply and the United States then carried …show more content…
Argument
Hosting the Olympic games is an honor for a country to have but also a great honor for the media as well as the hosts that are able to represent their broadcasting companies. Having the Olympics in the U.S.S.R., was the first time the games were to be held in a communist country. And there was great controversy on whether the athletes should be sent to compete in the games. This controversy was 4 months before the opening ceremonies, and at this point everything was ready to go. One of the only remaining elements left was the media, that had already bid millions of dollars for television rights.
The decision to boycott the games meant millions of dollars in losses for dozens of U.S. companies. Moscow had already been paid by many companies that were interested in sponsoring the games. For example, “NBC had paid the Soviets $87 million for the television rights and planned to broadcast more than 150 hours of the games during the summer of 1980. In addition to not broadcasting the games the NBC would lose expected advertising revenues, as well as its best chance for getting out of last place in the network ratings.”(Bruised
BLOCK 4
Step 4
I. Introduction
Athletes make major sacrifices during their athletic career, and in 1980 they had to make the ultimate sacrifice and were forcefully withdrawn from the Olympic Games. The relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States at this time was very tense. The Soviet Union wanted to maintain a friendly and socialist government on its border, and with Afghanistan in the midst of a civil war, the Soviets would be able to support the war and influence a socialist government. The Soviets then invaded Afghanistan, and the United States responded with the threat to not send a team to the Olympics, which are to be held in Moscow, if Soviet troops are still in Afghanistan by the end of the month. The Soviets do not comply and the United States then carried …show more content…
Argument
Hosting the Olympic games is an honor for a country to have but also a great honor for the media as well as the hosts that are able to represent their broadcasting companies. Having the Olympics in the U.S.S.R., was the first time the games were to be held in a communist country. And there was great controversy on whether the athletes should be sent to compete in the games. This controversy was 4 months before the opening ceremonies, and at this point everything was ready to go. One of the only remaining elements left was the media, that had already bid millions of dollars for television rights.
The decision to boycott the games meant millions of dollars in losses for dozens of U.S. companies. Moscow had already been paid by many companies that were interested in sponsoring the games. For example, “NBC had paid the Soviets $87 million for the television rights and planned to broadcast more than 150 hours of the games during the summer of 1980. In addition to not broadcasting the games the NBC would lose expected advertising revenues, as well as its best chance for getting out of last place in the network ratings.”(Bruised