When the 2010 Winter Olympics' cauldron is lit three months from today, how many people will watch the opening ceremony around the world?
Politicians, in some speeches, have estimated three-billion "sets of eyes" will tune-in or log-on. In other speeches, they claim three-billion viewers are expected for the 17-day extravaganza.
So which is it?
24 hours received no replies from Premier Gordon Campbell or minister of state for the Olympics Mary McNeil to e-mail queries about their source and methodology. But a B.C. Winter Games Secretariat official who did not want her name published said the estimate is for the entire 17-day event and is based on International Olympic Committee figures.
Salt Lake 2002 - the last North American-held Games - estimated 2.1 billion viewers from 160 countries from opening to closing. Beijing 2008 had an estimated 4.7 billion global audience.
"Online viewing will expand the available audience," said the official.
The 2002 NBC record of 72 million American opening ceremony viewers was dwarfed by the 151.6 million who watched Super Bowl XLIII on NBC. IOC figures, however, say 23.3 million Japanese and 20 million Russians watched the 2002 opening. Beyond North America, NFL numbers are small.
