Beijing presents its mega-deal

As the Olympics near, people try variations on the word “big.”

The Beijing games will set records in the number of nations competing (205, compared to 201 in 2004) and the amount spent for U.S. rights ($894 million, compared to $793 million in 2004). When it comes to the total number of U.S. hours (3,600 on NBC and cable), it will top all previous games combined.

So new phrases are grafted. Bob Costas, NBC’s anchor, said the Chinese response to the games will be “mega-big,” the opening ceremony will be “uber-spectacular.”

Then again, that fits the math of China.

Costas tells of a conversation between David Neal (producer of the NBC telecast) and a Chinese official. Neal marveled at the opening ceremony plans, which include 15,000 performers.

“The official reminded him, ‘David, we have the people,’ ” Costas said.

They do, more than a billion of them. That blends with the Americans’ tendency to supersize. NBC said it will have 274 desktop computers, 396 laptop computers and 2,500 monitors. It will consume 44,600 donuts and pastries and 78,000 energy bars.

The games and the coverage will be big, but will they be good?

Those qualities can co-exist, Neal said. That opening ceremony, for instance, is being molded by Yimou Zhang, director of “Hero,” “House of the Flying Daggers” and other films.

“His plans are simply spectacular,” Neal said.

And the NBC telecast? It has great technical advantages, he said.

“These will be the first-ever Olympics broadcast 100 percent in high definition,” he said. Four years ago, only five venues had high-def set-ups; this time, all 37 will.

“Even the smallest lipstick camera, the camera that’s embedded in the target at archery … is in HD,” Neal said.

And storytelling? That’s where tastes vary.

A few Olympics ago, NBC prided itself on its vignettes about athletes. It would film more than 100 of them, some fairly long and many quite lyrical.

And now? “We still have 60 or 70 features over 17 days,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports. “Little profiles … now they’re almost uniformly two minutes or less.”

Instead, he wants the announcers to simply tell the stories, just before the action begins. Much of that will be live.

Ebersol said he talked with the International Olympic Committee chairman, even before the site was chosen: “I told him that it would be almost impossible for an American network bidding on the games in the future … not to have some way to have ‘live’ happen.”

Then Beijing – 12 hours earlier than the Eastern Time Zone in the U.S. – was chosen. To be live in prime time (8-11 p.m. EDT), an event has to be between 8 and 11 a.m.

Officials hesitated, then agreed. After all, Ebersol said, the American TV deal “generates considerably more than half of all the money that they get.”

So athletes will wake up early. About half of NBC’s prime time and 80 percent of the overall coverage will be live, Ebersol said.

The first full day of competition, Saturday, will have four live, gold-medal swimming events in prime time. Michael Phelps – hoping to break the career record for gold medals in any sport – will swim live in prime time on each of the first eight nights.

That sounds like NBC will lean toward a few favorite American sports. Costas said similar things happen in any country.

“If you were to watch Olympics TV in Pakistan, you wouldn’t believe how much badminton they would show,” he said.

So NBC will focus its prime time heavily on swimming, gymnastics and track and field with some nods to other sports.

Its focal points will range from 16-year-old gymnast Shawn Johnson to 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres. It will include such past gold medalists as Phelps and the beach volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.

Still, Costas said plenty of attention will paid to other countries. The Chinese finished second to the U.S. in the 2004 medal count. Now they have prospects in events where they haven’t contended previously.

“When Liu Xiang takes to the track in the 110-meter hurdles, when Yao Ming leads the Chinese team against the Americans in their very first (basketball) game in the second day … this is going to be like a Super Bowl atmosphere,” Costas said.

It will be … well, mega-uber-big.