Zinetula Bilyaletdinov is in as the new head coach of the Russian national hockey team, replacing Vyacheslav Bykov, who was ousted in May, in no small part due to the national team's 6th place finish in Vancouver. Bilyaletdinov, was plucked from his position as head coach of the Ak Bars KHL team, which is based in Kazan.
A defenseman, Bilyaletdinov played for the Soviet national team from 1973-1988 and was on the silver medal-winning team in Lake Placid in 1980 and the gold medal-winners in 1984 in Sarajevo. In addition, he won numerous world championship golds, as well as a gold in the 1981 Canada Cup. The world's most-decorated goaltender (and the guy who got pulled after giving up 2 goals in the first period of the 1980 semi-finals against the US), Vladimir Tretiyak, had positive things to say about the new head man in the above linked article (here's some of what Tretiyak said in English, via The Moscow News).
Bilyaletdinov's Ak Bars squad won the first ever Gagarin Cup in 2007 and, in various media sources in Russia, the head coach has expressed repeatedly how happy he was to coach team in the region (Tartarstan) where he grew up.
So why did he leave? Well, let me paraphrase: The question of my appointment was answered at the level of prime minister Vladimir Putin and president of Tartarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov--to refuse in such a situation was impossible.
So there.
An Honest Look at the Run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Old News Is Better Than No News
Kind of a slow news weekend in Sochi, so I'll hit a few news items from the last few weeks that I haven't touched on yet.
- Earlier this month, the Jugba-Lazarevskoye-Sochi natural gas pipeline opened, at a cost of just over $1 billion. This is one of the good things about development; the citizens of Sochi certainly deserve access to piped gas, especially when they live in one of the largest natural gas-exporting nations in the world. Should they have had to give up their quiet little resort town to Olimpstroy to get it? Wait, don't answer that.
- National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman "continues to drag out" his decision on whether NHL players will compete for Olympic medals in Sochi, at least according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. That's a misleading headline for a number of reasons, not least of which simply because Bettman isn't dragging anything out; he doesn't need to make any decision on this for a while. The NHL and its commissioner/owners have a number of concerns about sending their players to play in the Olympics: the league and the owners are not compensated for sending the players to play, increased risk of injury, the safety of its players in the Caucasus and, most importantly, shutting down the league for 3 weeks in February, just after the Superbowl, when the NHL is the only pro game in town and the regular season is starting to get good. Not to mention Bettman has enough on his dinner plate right now, with the move of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg and the apparently extensive realignment to come in 2013.
- What did you do celebrate 'Olympic Day' on June 24th? Me, I set myself up a nice little biathlon course in my backyard; it pissed off the neighbors, but I have a feeling they'll be thanking me in December.
Friday, June 24, 2011
I Just Want You to Link Me
- Johnny Weir plans to skip the 2011-2012 skating season, but still plans to compete in Sochi. This link is worth it just for the picture of Weir at Gay Pride 2011, with a hairstyle that makes him look like a balding Mexican woman. Meanwhile, Evgeni Plushenko, who finished second to American Evan Lysacek in Vancouver, has had surgery and kissed and made up with the International Skating Union, so he's planning to be in Sochi.
- I have no idea what this is, but it's happening in Sochi.
- Gamesbids.com reports that Russia's railway infrastructure project is on time, for what it's worth.
- Microsoft is now the the official software supplier to the Sochi Olympics and I have absolutely no idea what anything in the article means. Russia, of course, has been swimming upstream for years trying to join the World Trade Organization and, for years, a lack of respect for intellectual property rights has been a key sticking point. Microsoft, in particular, has complained for years about the free distribution of its products in Russia. Microsoft's most recent interaction with Russia was its condemnation of the Russian government's, uh, selective enforcement of IP rights, a favorite way of the government to shut down uncooperative NGOs.
- And finally, Around the Rings has a pithy Q & A with Olympic organizer Dimitri Chernyshenko about the "look" of the Games.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Two Sides of Sochi
There's an excellent piece over at the online site of The St. Petersburg Times (the Russian one), detailing the persistent issue of housing in Sochi. It's something I've touched on before, albeit from a different angle, and one that doesn't seem to be subsiding.
Sochi residents (and residents of towns nearby) are beneficiaries of the splendid progress train that is currently barreling through Sochi. Or at least that's what the government's mouthpiece in Sochi, Tatyana Strakhova, believes:
Oh, those pesky townspeople. However, on the one hand, Ms. Strakhova is correct: progress is not without growing pains. People get used to doing things a certain way for long enough and any change is anathema to them. People complained about cars replacing horses, the internet, etc. Any time there is progress made for the greater good, there are always going to be dissenters who either have a vested (financial or emotional) stake in what's being replaced or are simply stuck in their ways. I could call my grandmother right now and in five minutes be talking about how much new kitchen mixers suck and how America peaked in 1964. I can't speak to the mixers but I think most people would disagree with the second half. Most of the gnashing of teeth over progress/change reflects a distinctly human condition in which nearly all things associated with youth are remembered as good. Being young is awesome, especially in America, and every time some institution from your youth is replaced, it's just one more reminder that you're getting older which, surely, is bad.
But quibbling about feelings isn't really my point here, nor is it the point of this blog. At a national level, everyone who knows anything about Russia would agree that poor/lack of infrastructure is a real problem. The roads are for shit and the traffic is awful, power plant failures are all too common, the August, 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam disaster cost 75 lives, etc. The stuff that does get built is too often only in Moscow and Russian building projects are notoriously, if not comically, corrupt: Then there's the Olympic road from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana (that's 30 miles) that will cost north of $7 billion, which is about $233 million a mile. Which would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.
Point being, the question at the heart of my little blog is whether or not Russia should be pumping north of $30 billion into building sports stadiums and highways, razing houses, extending rail lines, etc. when there are a host of other problems plaguing Russia.
At any rate, with Russia's version of eminent domain forcing more Sochi residents from their homes, more and more of the displaced are complaining for one of two reasons: those who accepted the government's offer to have a house built for them in a different part of town are finding their new homes to be about what you'd expect from a government contractor throwing up as many houses as possible in a short period of time. Those who took the payoff from the feds are at least able to rent nicer places elsewhere in town, though even then it's a steep downgrade from home owner to apartment renter. So reports Simon Eliasson:
For the displaced, this better be one hell of an Olympic party.
Sochi residents (and residents of towns nearby) are beneficiaries of the splendid progress train that is currently barreling through Sochi. Or at least that's what the government's mouthpiece in Sochi, Tatyana Strakhova, believes:
The Olympics will be a huge celebration for Russia, and the modernized infrastructure it brings will have positive effects for the citizens of Sochi for a long time to come...
Of course, every city has its problems,” she says. “But the Olympics have given us a chance to improve everything here, and all these changes would have taken many years to accomplish if it wasn’t for the extra funds we’ve received because of the Games.” She explains that it is an impossible task to keep everyone satisfied while working on a project of this scale.
The people who are negative about the Games just want everything to stay the way it always has been,” said Strakhova. “The people of Bukhta are used to living a quiet life near the sea and living off tourism. Of course they are bitter about losing their homes and land.
Oh, those pesky townspeople. However, on the one hand, Ms. Strakhova is correct: progress is not without growing pains. People get used to doing things a certain way for long enough and any change is anathema to them. People complained about cars replacing horses, the internet, etc. Any time there is progress made for the greater good, there are always going to be dissenters who either have a vested (financial or emotional) stake in what's being replaced or are simply stuck in their ways. I could call my grandmother right now and in five minutes be talking about how much new kitchen mixers suck and how America peaked in 1964. I can't speak to the mixers but I think most people would disagree with the second half. Most of the gnashing of teeth over progress/change reflects a distinctly human condition in which nearly all things associated with youth are remembered as good. Being young is awesome, especially in America, and every time some institution from your youth is replaced, it's just one more reminder that you're getting older which, surely, is bad.
But quibbling about feelings isn't really my point here, nor is it the point of this blog. At a national level, everyone who knows anything about Russia would agree that poor/lack of infrastructure is a real problem. The roads are for shit and the traffic is awful, power plant failures are all too common, the August, 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam disaster cost 75 lives, etc. The stuff that does get built is too often only in Moscow and Russian building projects are notoriously, if not comically, corrupt: Then there's the Olympic road from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana (that's 30 miles) that will cost north of $7 billion, which is about $233 million a mile. Which would be funny, if it wasn't so sad.
Point being, the question at the heart of my little blog is whether or not Russia should be pumping north of $30 billion into building sports stadiums and highways, razing houses, extending rail lines, etc. when there are a host of other problems plaguing Russia.
At any rate, with Russia's version of eminent domain forcing more Sochi residents from their homes, more and more of the displaced are complaining for one of two reasons: those who accepted the government's offer to have a house built for them in a different part of town are finding their new homes to be about what you'd expect from a government contractor throwing up as many houses as possible in a short period of time. Those who took the payoff from the feds are at least able to rent nicer places elsewhere in town, though even then it's a steep downgrade from home owner to apartment renter. So reports Simon Eliasson:
The citizens of Imeretinskaya Bukhta do not all share her [Strakhova's] unreserved optimism about the Olympics. In total, about a thousand citizens in Sochi have had their property expropriated by the state to make way for construction. Valentina Selivanova is one of them. She lives with her husband in the area, but they don’t have much time left here. Their house will soon be demolished, though they still haven’t been informed exactly when it will happen.
“We have lived in this house since 1972, and now nothing remains of it,” said Selivanova.Her son Nikolai is emptying the house he grew up in. Roofing, copper pipes — everything that might be of value is stacked in a pile on the lawn in front of the house.
The house itself is empty, except for the one room in which Valentina and her husband still live. The empty windows of the other rooms gape hauntingly, and the roof is partially gone. Nearby the heap of metal scraps lies a mound of grapevines, torn up from the backyard. Selivanovna and her family chose to accept financial compensation for their house rather than move to a new house supplied by Olympstroi, the state corporation in charge of construction for the Olympics.
“The new houses in [the area of] Nekrasovka are being built in a hurry and lack quality,” said Selivanova. “There have been many problems with them, from bad flooring to skewed doorways. That’s the reason we chose compensation instead, rather than take the risk of ending up in a bad quality house.” Currently, the family is looking for an apartment in central Sochi. The compensation they received will be enough to buy about 60 square meters of living space there, compared to the more than 200 square meters they had in the house.
For the displaced, this better be one hell of an Olympic party.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
NBC Drops $4.83 Billion To Broacast Next Four Olympics
So reporteth the Wall Street Journal:
Well, as the above "source familiar with the negotiations" notes, NBC is betting on an increase in ad revenue to offset its expected increase in costs, as the network vows to show all events live on some format (hello modern pentathlon on Nat Geo International!). While a continuing uptick in ad revenues would be huge for NBC, remember that Comcast now owns 51% of NBCUniversal. By my count, this means that, between NBC and Comcast, there are around 20 channels (not to mention many more websites) on which NBC will be able to broadcast the Olympics and this is where I think the real money is to be made: Comcast can now hold other cable companies such as Time Warner over a barrel to carry Comcast-owned channels that will be showing Olympic content. Do you want to explain to your subscribers why they can't watch live curling at 3am? Didn't think so...
Other interesting things about this deal: It was rumored that Fox actually offered more money than did NBC. What tipped the scales in NBC's favor were, apparently, two things 1) the IOC's familiarity with NBC over the last 20 or so years and 2) the fact that NBC apparently brought 17 execs to Lausanne to pitch the deal and that this apparently greatly excited IOC members (many IOC members, like FIFA members, love nothing more than to be told and shown how important they are, so credit NBC for that). Other articles have speculated that merely the status that comes with being the Network That Broadcasts the Olympics will help spark general interest in NBC programming and raise ratings, though no amount of Olympic rings underneath the NBC logo can force me to watch The Event.
There are, of course, huge risks involved for NBC; the network bid blind on the 2018 (it is generally thought that South Korea is the front-runner) and 2020 Games and is likely to be staring at a dearth of high-profile events being broadcast during primetime in the US. Not to mention that the network is going all-in on the Olympics without Dick Ebersol, the long-time head of NBC Sports, who has presided over every NBC Olympic broadcast since 1992 and who recently resigned after the merger of Comcast and NBC. Ebersol has long been considered one of the brightest executives in the business and made a cottage industry out of identifying and telling the best in human interest stories from each Olympics. The absence of Ebersol reportedly unnerved even the IOC, so there's a lot of pressure on NBC to get London right in 2012. NBC has bet a huge of money that it will.
NBCU's bill will be divided into four parts. It will pay $775 million for 2014, $1.226 billion for 2016, $963 million for 2018 and $1.418 billion for 2020, the IOC said. NBC lost $223 million on the 2010 Vancouver Games and is projecting a $250 million loss for London next year.
In a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday, Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said he believes the new deal will be profitable but didn't provide specifics. The company has said it plans to spread its coverage across its cable and broadcast networks as well as its digital outlets. The company is betting on the uptick in the ad market and increases in fees from cable companies and TV stations to defray the costs, a person familiar with the matter said.
One big beneficiary is likely to be NBCU's Versus cable sports network, which has long lagged ESPN. "It will finally now become a big-time national sports network," said Rick Gentile, the former executive producer of CBS Sports.
Acknowledging the need to cater to diehard fans and mainstream viewers, NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus said NBCU will show every event live on some platform, in addition to sticking with its taped prime-time coverage.For me, the really interesting part of this story is the last sentence of the first paragraph: NBC lost $250 million or so on broadcasting the Vancouver Winter Olympics, even with all the hottest events being broadcast during primetime in America. And, from what I can find, NBC has lost money on every Olympics broadcast since it started broadcasting them in the 80's. So why on Earth would NBC fork over nearly five billion for the rights to broadcast something that has been a money loser?
Well, as the above "source familiar with the negotiations" notes, NBC is betting on an increase in ad revenue to offset its expected increase in costs, as the network vows to show all events live on some format (hello modern pentathlon on Nat Geo International!). While a continuing uptick in ad revenues would be huge for NBC, remember that Comcast now owns 51% of NBCUniversal. By my count, this means that, between NBC and Comcast, there are around 20 channels (not to mention many more websites) on which NBC will be able to broadcast the Olympics and this is where I think the real money is to be made: Comcast can now hold other cable companies such as Time Warner over a barrel to carry Comcast-owned channels that will be showing Olympic content. Do you want to explain to your subscribers why they can't watch live curling at 3am? Didn't think so...
Other interesting things about this deal: It was rumored that Fox actually offered more money than did NBC. What tipped the scales in NBC's favor were, apparently, two things 1) the IOC's familiarity with NBC over the last 20 or so years and 2) the fact that NBC apparently brought 17 execs to Lausanne to pitch the deal and that this apparently greatly excited IOC members (many IOC members, like FIFA members, love nothing more than to be told and shown how important they are, so credit NBC for that). Other articles have speculated that merely the status that comes with being the Network That Broadcasts the Olympics will help spark general interest in NBC programming and raise ratings, though no amount of Olympic rings underneath the NBC logo can force me to watch The Event.
There are, of course, huge risks involved for NBC; the network bid blind on the 2018 (it is generally thought that South Korea is the front-runner) and 2020 Games and is likely to be staring at a dearth of high-profile events being broadcast during primetime in the US. Not to mention that the network is going all-in on the Olympics without Dick Ebersol, the long-time head of NBC Sports, who has presided over every NBC Olympic broadcast since 1992 and who recently resigned after the merger of Comcast and NBC. Ebersol has long been considered one of the brightest executives in the business and made a cottage industry out of identifying and telling the best in human interest stories from each Olympics. The absence of Ebersol reportedly unnerved even the IOC, so there's a lot of pressure on NBC to get London right in 2012. NBC has bet a huge of money that it will.
What's Old Is New--Sochi Watch Relaunch
With fewer than 1,000 days remaining until the XXII Olympic Winter Games, to be held in Sochi, Russia in 2014, this seemed like an opportune time renew my commitment to covering any- and everything relating to the Sochi Olympics. You can read my original mission statement here and, to be honest, not a whole lot has changed in terms of my goals. My aim this time around is to post more frequently, perhaps write a few longer pieces and reliably put together a collection of links for posting each Friday on stuff that doesn't necessarily warrant a full post from me. Also, I'd like to be funnier. And I wouldn't mind expanding my readership beyond immediate family members and friends I've blackmailed into doing so.
At any rate, I do hope you stick around and find at least a little something throughout the week that you think is interesting or maybe didn't know. And geez, would it kill you to leave a comment every now and again?
-adam
At any rate, I do hope you stick around and find at least a little something throughout the week that you think is interesting or maybe didn't know. And geez, would it kill you to leave a comment every now and again?
-adam
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