The Closing Ceremony in Beijing not only marked the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics but also the final Olympics that Peter Ueberroth would attend as chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Ueberroth’s term comes to an end this fall when he will transition into a non-voting role on the USOC’s board of directors. As the Beijing Games wrapped up, he sat down with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Tripp Mickle to talk about the impact of the 2008 Olympics, the future of the USOC and the future of the Olympics.    Read More  >

Two top corporate hospitality and sports management experts said Beijing’s new airport functioned well Monday as thousands of customers and others left the Olympic city after the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.    Read More  >

It’s never easy for television networks to cover the Olympics when they don’t own the rights. When a network pays $894 million for the rights to broadcast the Beijing Games, like NBC did, it gets and enforces exclusive access to athletes for on-camera interviews at stadiums.

The U.S. Olympic Committee tries to make athletes available to non-rightsholders within a few hours of competition, but a failure to do so with three medal-winning American fencers on the Games’ opening Saturday rubbed ESPN the wrong way.    Read More  >

Fireworks and an appearance by international soccer star David Beckham highlighted the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The eight-minute Olympic hand-over to 2012 Summer Games host London focused on an iconic red, double-decker bus. Modern dancers moved in and around the bus until the moment that the vehicle’s roof opened and out of it emerged a smiling Beckham.    Read More  >

The dust is barely settling on the Beijing Olympics, but the race for 2016 is heating up. Leaders from all four bid cities — Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo — provided some details and many talking points Saturday at a panel discussion staged by “Around The Rings,” the Olympics newsletter.    Read More  >

Universal Sports, the Olympic channel co-owned by NBC and InterMedia Partners, will offer the first-ever TV and digital broadcast of the Paralympic Games courtesy of an agreement with BOCOG and the International Paralympic Committee.    Read More  >

Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee chairman John Furlong said Friday, “We’re no longer second in line. In a few days, we’ll be first in line.”

The hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics are feeling the uptick in interest. Communications Vice President Renee Smith-Valade said traffic to the VANOC Web site has increased fivefold since Aug. 8, when the Beijing Games began.    Read More  >

Gold
China TV rights windfall
For all the criticism the IOC has faced for bringing the Olympics to China, it's hard to ignore the payoff it will see by converting 1.3 billion people into fans of the Olympics. The net result for the bottom line is expected to be a 2,000 percent increase in TV rights fees from China, bringing CCTV's contribution to the IOC's bottom line from $18.5 million to more than $400 million.

Silver
London
Is anyone else getting excited about London 2012? The city plans to provide a glimpse of what its Games could be this Sunday with a Trafalgar Square ceremony that will feature Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, soccer star David Beckham and aquaman Michael Phelps. God save the Queen.

IOC President Jacques Rogge (right)

Bronze
IOC President Jacques Rogge
Good sportsmanship is important. No one will disagree with that. But criticizing Usain Bolt for indulging in celebratory dancing after he broke the 200-meter world record seemed a bit out of place for the head of an organization that's been largely silent when it comes to China's limits on press freedom and the right to protest during the last two weeks.

Tin
NBC's "live" graphic
For the last two weeks, NBC has said that it can't remove the "Live" graphic from its delayed West Coast broadcasts. Now comes word from the company that supplies NBC's on-air graphic that taking the "Live" graphic down can be done "at the source and during the event," USA Today reported. Sounds simple enough, so why has NBC resisted making the change?

MLB’s executive vice president for business Tim Brosnan returned to New York on Wednesday night from a whirlwind five-day trip to Beijing.

The longtime MLB executive has been a key figure in the sport’s increasing involvement in China, which in March saw the staging of two exhibition games between San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brosnan spoke with SportsBusiness Journal staff writer Eric Fisher.    Read More  >