But back to this sports competition thing. It’s annoying. And the people who are in charge of winning medals can’t be responsible for worrying about eyeballs or ratings.

Emma Hayes has been tasked with changing the fortunes of the US women’s national soccer team. And to do that, it cannot bring a roster to Paris that resembles the group that exited last year’s World Cup after winning just one of four matches. Alex Morgan, the American soccer fans adore you, and you’ve earned that adoration. NBC would love to have your familiar face on the air. It doesn’t matter. You will stay at home.

There are still four weeks left until the Paris Olympics, and as with any Olympics, they promise to deliver over-the-top performances from established stars—Steppe Fury, Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Noah Lyles—and those we’ve just discovered. No Olympics is scripted, and that’s both the point and the beauty of it.

But it is also true that the period leading up to the Games cost the American team three real draws. Hayes, the new women’s soccer coach, chose to move on from Morgan, a relationship that equates to the glory days of the US women’s national team, which in Hayes’ view is no longer capable of providing that glory. Caitlin Clark, arguably the most accomplished star in women’s basketball, did not make the Olympic team. Athing Mo, the elegant and graceful 800m gold medalist, fell while participating in the US Olympic Trials, leaving her out of the team in her signature race.

The Olympics won’t succeed or fail because Alex Morgan doesn’t make the soccer team or because Athing Mo stumbles across a track in Oregon. But think about it this way: The past three Olympics — the winter games in South Korea and Beijing, and the summer games in Tokyo — have been held in Asia, making the time difference in the United States unpalatable for many viewers to watch in real time. The last two — the COVID-postponed 2021 Games in Japan, and the winter edition in China the following year — were held in empty venues, because the pandemic restricted fans.

Paris, then, must be a return to normal. But it’s a new normal. Since NBC budgeted to move the six Olympic Games from 2022 to 2032, consumers have moved further away from a single-screen viewing experience. Having more familiar characters will help more people follow.

This does not mean, for example, that Morgan should have been on the football team or that Clark should have been on the basketball team. Mu’s fate, determined by the rigors of No Second Chances Path’s experiences, is becoming more cut and dried. Decisions with Morgan and Clark were made on sporting merit. There’s a cruelty to that too.

“It was a difficult decision, of course, especially given Alex’s history and record with this team,” Hayes said in a conference call. “But I felt like I wanted to go in another direction.”

The trend is clearly younger. Morgan, a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, turns 35 next week. She’s coming off the 2023 World Cup, where she started all four U.S. games and didn’t score. Hayes, a Londoner, isn’t here just because the Americans failed to reach the quarterfinals of a World Cup for the first time. She’s here because — after a bronze medal in Tokyo and last year’s heartbreaking losses in New Zealand and Australia — the program needed a reboot.

This is the opposite of what women’s basketball demands. Women’s basketball players have won all seven gold medals dating back to the 1996 Atlanta Games. This year’s roster includes not only 42-year-old midfielder Diana Taurasi, who is seeking her sixth gold medal, but six other members of the team that won the Tokyo.

“Good perspective and continuity is very important,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tully said He told the Associated Press“That’s why we’ve been so successful at the Olympics.”

The football team approach: It’s broken, let’s fix it. Basketball team approach: It’s not broken, what needs to be fixed?

What remains to be seen now is whether these tactics will succeed.

There will be a lot to see in Paris. The inimitable Biles will return to the gymnastics competition that tormented her so much in Tokyo. Ledecky will return to the pool for her fourth Olympic Games, as she seeks to add to her seven gold medals. Lyles will head to the track in search of his gold in the big sprints.

But the U.S. team, which will take a boat down the Seine to the opening ceremony, will be missing some of its most prominent faces. That may not help draw spectators. But if they end up with more medals, who cares?