Stress between European Championships and Olympics

Shortly after the European Football Championship, ARD and ZDF already have the next sporting spectacle on their schedule: the Olympic Games. How the broadcasters are solving the problems.

After the European Football Championship comes the Olympics. For many employees of ARD and ZDF, however, preparations for the Paris Games began much earlier and continued during the football tournament. “That actually made planning difficult,” said ARD Olympic team leader Gerd Gottlob. That also applies to him, because he was a commentator for the European Championships for the first channel and has also been in demand as Olympic team leader for some time.

“Not everyone is under the strain and constant stress, but many colleagues are. They’re already feeling the strain,” said Gottlob. “Both events and the Paralympics in such close succession are a complex and complicated issue.” There are many overlaps, even though WDR was in charge of the European Championships and NDR is responsible for the Olympic Games.

Public broadcasters: Olympic preparation during the European Championships

ZDF is also trying to solve the challenge pragmatically. “The broadcasts of the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games are planned and organized by two different teams,” explained sports director Yorck Polus. Reporters who are also working at the Olympics have used the days off during the European Championship to prepare – “as far as possible.”

Jochen Breyer and Katrin Müller-Hohenstein, who also run the ZDF broadcasting days at the Olympics, were therefore connected to “important planning meetings for Paris” during the European Championships, explained Polus. Until recently, he himself was the European Championship team manager and is now the Olympic team manager for the second country. However, he explained that the main burden of organizing the Olympics rests with Anke Scholten. Mirjam Bach is the counterpart at ARD.

Reporting from Paris much bigger

There is an important difference between the football tournament in Germany and the Summer Games in France. “The team that works at the European Championships is smaller than the team at the Olympics,” said the ZDF sports director. “The scope of the coverage is much greater in Paris than at the European Championships.” The football tournament included 51 games, while at the Olympics there are 32 sports with 329 competitions.

Text: dpa / Editor: GD