THE MARKET: How many million Americans will watch the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony on August 8, 2008? Each dollar of the share price represents millions of viewers. Shares bought at $50, for example, would be worth $80 if 80 million people watch the opening ceremony. Trading closes August 8 at noon, PT. Total viewer figures will be taken from the Associated Press.
THE DATA: A whopping 56 million Americans tuned in to the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the same number that watched the opening ceremony from Sydney in 2000. (For perspective, there are roughly 56 million grandparents in America.) NBC was recently rumored to be scrambling to sell spots for the Olympics at $750,000 a pop, an unenviable position for a company that shelled out $3.5 billion for the right to televise the games.
OUR TAKE: Yeah … we never really got the allure of the opening ceremony. We might prefer to see athletes running, jumping, swimming, pole vaulting, and/or Olympics home page.