The momentum is back for Olympics viewership. 

The initial two days of data from the Paris Games have supported many of the hopes of NBCUniversal and parent company Comcast, and showed a strong reversal from record lows posted in Tokyo in 2021 and Beijing a year later, in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

NBC Sports said viewership for Friday’s opening ceremony averaged 28.6 million viewers in the U.S. across platforms, marking the best such figure since 2012, and bettering the comparable figure from 2021 by 60%. 

Those numbers were then improved Saturday, the first full day of competition from Paris, as that day averaged 32.4 million viewers across all platforms, 83% better than the comparable figure from Tokyo. Further growth is expected later Monday once numbers arrive from Sunday’s events, including the first game for the U.S. men’s basketball team. 

These numbers, comparable to a top regular-season or wild-card game for the NFL, further reinforce the Olympics as one of the most powerful entities in all of sports media. 

“We are off to a strong start that is in line with the expectations of our NBC stations, and our distribution and advertising partners,” said NBC Sports president Rick Cordella. “We are in a great position as we look forward to the next two weeks of competition.”

Peacock Burst

As had been hoped, the Peacock streaming service has been an increasing driver of the robust initial Olympic viewership numbers. For the opening ceremony, Peacock generated more than 2.5 million viewers, representing the No. 1 entertainment event in the platform’s history. Across all of NBCUniversal’s streaming platforms, including Peacock, the company also generated more than 1 billion minutes of consumption through Friday—six times the comparable figure from Tokyo. 

Saturday, meanwhile, brought 4.7 million viewers to Peacock, marking its second-best day of engagement ever, trailing only an exclusive NFL wild-card game in January that set a U.S. streaming record.  

Water Concerns

Rain in Paris throughout Friday and most of Saturday is now throwing new levels of doubt as to whether the water quality in the Seine will be sufficient to allow for open-water swimming events in the Olympics. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal for a century, but Paris 2024 preparations included a massive clean-up effort in hopes of making it usable for the Games.

But pollution in the Seine, particularly E. coli levels, often increases after heavy rains in the area. Because of that, training in the Seine for upcoming triathlon events was canceled for a second straight day Monday. The latest testing has deemed the water unsafe, but organizers are hoping for improving conditions with the men’s triathlon scheduled for Tuesday and the women’s triathlon due to follow the next day.

“Given the weather forecast for the next 36 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start of triathlon competitions on July 30,” the two organizations said in a joint statement. 

There’s a new chapter in the feud between Celtics star Jaylen Brown (above, right) and USA Basketball.

Brown has been public about his displeasure over being snubbed from the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP was not selected to the original roster announced in April, then essentially missed the team again earlier this month when it chose his Celtics teammate Derrick White to replace Kawhi Leonard.

Grant Hill, managing director of the U.S. men’s basketball team, explained on The Dan Patrick Show how they decided to select White over Brown and other candidates.

Hill’s reasoning was that the team discovered in its practices leading up to the Olympics that they wanted to play a bench lineup that featured Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis, two players they had originally envisioned as centers. That decision created a “logjam” at the four position.

“LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum (above, left), now Bam Adebayo—all these guys can play the four and we envision them playing the four,” Hill said. “And so O.K., let’s not bring another guy who might play that three-four position in. Let’s bring in someone now who can really give us great defense at the point of attack.”

A Conspiracy Theory?

Brown’s public criticism of USA Basketball started after White’s selection. He posted several cryptic tweets, but took one direct shot at Nike, implying that the brand that sponsors the U.S. team influenced the selection.

Brown posted on July 10 asking Nike, “this what we doing ?”

Less than a week later at NBA Summer League, Brown, who has not signed a sneaker deal since his contract with Adidas expired in 2021, was asked whether he thinks Nike played a part in the decision to leave him off the roster.

“I do for sure,” Brown said. “There will be more stuff to come with that. As of now, I’m not gonna comment on it.”

Hill denounced Brown’s comments, stressing that the decision was based on finding the right “balance” for the team’s roster.

“I think this idea that there’s a conspiracy theory—I always love a good conspiracy theory—but it was really, truly a basketball decision.”

To Hill’s point, Tatum, Brown’s teammate on the Celtics and Jordan Brand athlete, was a DNP-CD in Team USA’s dominant 26-point win over Serbia on Sunday, while its Celtics counterparts Jrue Holiday and White both received significant minutes as role players. 

But Brown clapped back at Hill, particularly at his use of the term “conspiracy theory,” noting it was disappointing and that he has been “a VP since I was 21 years old,” referring to his position as a vice president for the National Basketball Players Association. He was selected by his peers in 2019—though he was 22 at the time.

Brown followed his response to Hill by retweeting a post regarding sneaker politics and the Olympics, citing the famous 1992 Dream Team that was sponsored by Reebok. Michael Jordan, a Nike athlete, famously covered up the Reebok logo during the team’s medal ceremony.

While Brown called foul at Hill’s comments, this isn’t the first time he’s been embroiled in issues related to conspiracy theories. In 2022, Brown retweeted, then deleted a post that indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic vaccine was not meant to protect the public.