Die Macht » proponents say will help Las Vegas accommo

NEW YORK -- An estimated 26.5 million people watched NBCs coverage of the Olympic opening ceremony, a sharp 35 percent drop from the record-setting viewership of the curtain-lifter in London four years ago.The opening ceremony of the London Games was seen by 40.7 million people in the U.S. NBC suggested Saturday that the gap will be narrowed when details about time-shifted viewing and people who streamed Friday nights telecast on mobile devices become available in coming days.To compare linear TV viewership today versus four years ago isnt logical, NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes said.The four-year difference was much kinder to NBC the last time around; the Beijing opening in 2008 reached 34.9 million people, according to the Nielsen company.One of NBCs pre-games fears came true: viewership dropped off after the entrance of the United States team in the Parade of Nations. But because the Portuguese alphabet was used, the U.S. team (Estados Unidos) appeared much earlier in the broadcast than is typical.NBC also front-loaded many of its commercial breaks early in the broadcast so there were fewer during the Parade of Nations. Judging by the harsh social media reaction, that may have backfired. It was a culture shock to binge-watchers and time-shifters who have become accustomed to television without commercials.The ceremony also ran long, and wasnt helped by NBCs decision to air it on tape-delay so it started in prime time. The lighting of the Olympic cauldron wasnt shown until after midnight. A joke by Matt Lauer during the teams entrance had a ring of truth: Are we at Timor-Leste (East Timor) already? he said. Time is flying by.The London Games proved a smash success for NBC. Viewers may simply be less interested in the Olympics from Rio -- and that wont become clear for a few more days.BIKE RIDE: The bicycle race won by Belgian rider Greg van Avermaet was a blast to watch, unfolding over several hours on NBC on Saturday, the kind of experience you cant get in prime time. It was a lesson for announcers Paul Sherwen and Christian Vande Velde to keep in mind that many viewers are new to their sport. The sheer chaos of the mountainous portions of the race, the course clogged with motorbikes, autos and spectators who ran alongside and even touched competitors, seemed shocking. It didnt seem to strike the announcers as unusual, since they didnt mention it.WATER QUALITY: Given all the pre-games publicity about water pollution, it was wise of rowing announcers Leigh Diffey and Mary Whipple to discuss the conditions during a Saturday morning rowing heat, with details about the steps Olympians are doing to protect themselves. Its almost on the back-burner, Whipple said. Its a non-issue so far. Still, its something announcers for all of the water sports should keep bringing up.PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS: The presidential election race intersected with the Olympics for the first time a little past 8 a.m. Saturday, with the first commercial for Democrat Hillary Clinton.REFUGEE: The entrance of the 10-member team of refugees was a highlight of Fridays opening ceremony, so it was important for NBCs Jimmy Roberts to return to the story of these athletes during Saturdays telecast. What a strange and wonderful concept -- running toward something instead of running away, Roberts said. Roberts noted that none of the athletes are medal contenders, but its worth keeping up with their stories as the Olympics go on. Matt Hedges Jersey .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Andrija Novakovich USA Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. http://www.usasoccerauthority.com/timothy-weah-usa-jersey/ . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year. Dax McCarty USA Jersey . LUCIE, Fla. DeAndre Yedlin Jersey . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Nevada took a step closer to becoming the home of Raider Nation on Friday, with state lawmakers narrowly approving a hotel tax increase that would put $750 million in public money toward an NFL stadium partly funded by billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.Raiders owner Mark Davis thanked the legislature in a statement.All parties have worked extremely hard to develop and approve this tremendous stadium project that will serve as a proud new home for the entire Raider Nation, Davis said.However, it is far from settled that the Raiders will move from Oakland to Las Vegas, a city that is only now ending its drought of professional sports after landing an NHL expansion team over the summer. Oakland still holds out hope it can keep the Raiders from leaving a second time, and relocation needs the blessing of three-fourths of NFL team owners, who historically have shunned Las Vegas because of its legalized sports betting.The matter is expected to be addressed at next weeks fall owners meetings, but there will not be any votes. The Raiders cannot apply for relocation until Jan. 15.Still, proponents who envision Raiders games in Sin City by 2020 have a persuasive bargaining chip: the prospect of a sparkling, 65,000-seat domed venue close to the Las Vegas Strip, backed by $650 million from Adelson, $500 million from the Raiders ($200 million of that from an NFL loan) and a $750 million public investment.A cadre of lobbyists for the project strained over the past week to overcome conservative anxiety over a tax increase and liberal objections to subsidizing one of the worlds richest men, eventually securing the bare minimum of Assembly votes to hit the required two-thirds majority. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, who views the $1.9 billion stadium as a way to ensure Las Vegas continued dominance in tourism, is expected to sign the deal Monday in Las Vegas.It is truly exciting to see our gaming industry, labor unions and small businesses come together with broad support for these important projects, Sandoval said in a statement. This is the beginning of the next chapter of southern Nevadas continued dominance in tourism, conventions and hospitality.Its exciting, said Andy Abboud, chief lobbyist for Adelsons Las Vegas Sands, after the financing deal passed its toughest vote Friday. But this is really about jobs, and I think at the end of the day, people saw this as a fantastic economic stimulus package.Sandoval called lawmakers into a rare special session to consider the deal, which raises a 12 percent hotel tax in the Las Vegas area by up to 1.4 percentage points to fund the stadium and a convention center expansion. Casino industry heavy hitters from Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment urged lawmakers not to miss thee game-changing business venture backed by their competitor, Adelson.ddddddddddddConstruction workers from the Laborers Union festooned the legislative building in Carson City with silver-and-black flags, pleading with lawmakers to give them back jobs that dried up in the recession and threatening to sabotage the campaigns of Democrats who voted against the deal.Eventually, the Senate voted 16-5 and the Assembly voted 28-13 for the bill. Opponents included both Republicans and Democrats, many of whom did not want the legislature to put new tax revenue toward a stadium instead of bolstering Nevadas bottom-ranking public education system and mental health services.We are funding luxury items before were taking care of our needs, said Democratic Assemblywoman Teresa Benitez-Thompson, who opposed the deal. I dont let that happen in my home and Im not going to let it happen ... in this house.The public contribution will be larger in raw dollars than for any other NFL stadium, although the publics share of the costs -- 39 percent -- is smaller than for stadiums in cities of a similar size, such as Indianapolis, Cleveland and Cincinnati.Critics pointed out that some outside economists, including Stanford professor and sports economist Roger Noll, have panned the deal as a boondoggle based on outlandish financial expectations. Defenders of the stadium say Las Vegas outsized tourism economy, with 150,000 hotel rooms and 42 million visitors each year, is different than other markets that are more dependent on locals.If we take the visitor component out of our economic impact model, it is negative, said economic analyst Jeremy Aguero, who helped develop the deal. He said he didnt disagree with analyses that other cities have been burned in stadium deals, but its inappropriately applied here.Proponents project 451,000 new visitors will come to Las Vegas as a result of the stadium, ushering in $620 million in economic impact. Thats based on the stadium hosting 46 events, including 10 NFL games, six UNLV football games, and a variety of concerts, sports and other events.The deal puts $420 million toward renovating and expanding a dated convention center, which proponents say will help Las Vegas accommodate the largest conferences and keep its edge against competitors such as Orlando. The two projects are projected to bring 25,000 construction jobs and 14,000 permanent jobs to the Las Vegas area.Tourists, mostly, will finance the improvements. They can expect to pay about $1.50 more per night on their hotel bill for an average-priced room on the Las Vegas Strip.ESPNs Adam Schefter and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '