Right under a brilliant blue sky, a stun gun was recently discharged into a sea of shocked baseball fans from coast-to-coast.
New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, ``Captain Clutch’’ or ``Mr. November’’ if you prefer, stunned the baseball world on Wednesday afternoon in announcing that the 2014 baseball season, his 20th season in pinstripes, will be his last.
The five-time Gold Glove winner dropped the bombshell, not in a stuffy press room packed with sharp-elbowed reporters or cameras whirring and hot lights beaming down on him, but through his Facebook Page http://is.gd/j2M64x .
After explaining how difficult last season was during his injury-plagued season and thanking fans for their unwavering support over the last two decades, the All-Star shortstop went on to write: ``It is time for the next chapter. I have new dreams and aspirations, and I want new challenges. There are many things I want to do in business and philanthropic work, in addition to focusing more on my personal life and starting a family of my own. And I want the ability to move at my own pace, see the world and finally have a summer vacation.’’
According to a Facebook spokesperson, the online social networking service wasn’t at liberty to disclose the total number of page views Jeter’s announcement received, but as of this writing, his posting was liked by 72,758 online users, shared by another 55,994 and received 12,449 comments. All-Star numbers, to be sure.
Now, let the bidding begin.
As soon as the stunning announcement reached baseball fans ears Wednesday afternoon, a great many of those fans undoubtedly punched in the regular season schedule on an Internet search in order to find out when the Yankees, and their exceptionally gifted captain, would blow through town for the final time.
As you might imagine, tickets for the aging matinee idols final curtain call will come at a steep price. At Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, in particular, tickets for Jeter’s final games at either of those baseball rich stadiums are in a league of their own compared with other ballparks around the country.
Forbes Magazine http://is.gd/nQHPPj reported that Jeter’s final regular season game at Yankees Stadium on September 25th has registered an average ticket price of $1,153, up 279 percent since the news broke around 2:00 p.m. eastern time.
According to Connor Gregoire, Communications Analyst at SeatGeek http://is.gd/F7ZyKj , a website that provides search and price forecasting for consumers purchasing sports, concert, and theater tickets on the secondary ticket market, the cheapest tickets available for Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park are hovering around $310-$330 at this point with standing room only tickets for game 162 in Boston available for $300.
The $1,000 or more ticket prices that are being reported by different news organizations and online sites is really just the asking price, the average amount buyers are actually spending on tickets since Jeter's announcement yesterday, is closer to $500 per ticket for each game-still a hefty amount; and according to Gregoire, ``far and away the highest average we've seen for a regular season game since we started monitoring the secondary market in 2009.’’
Within the last 24 hours, other cities listing the most dramatic fluctuation for the all-star’s final tour have been Detroit (Aug. 26-28), St. Louis (May 26-28) and Baltimore (Sept. 12-14), but Gregoire is quick to stress ``there's been an uptick in the number of sales and the price of tickets for almost all of his last stops. ''
Jeter's last games in Queens (Mets) and at Wrigley Field (Cubs) are clearly the most expensive (outside of Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park), while the cheapest are in markets like Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Toronto that historically have some of the lowest ticket resale prices in baseball, Gregoire informs me.
The difference of ticket prices between the North and the South Sides of Chicago is striking: A ticket for Jeter’s last game at U.S. Cellular Field for a White Sox game can be scooped up for an economical $22, a third of what a ticket for Jeter’s final game at Wrigley on the North Side is going for: $62.
While tickets for the future Hall of Famer’s final hurrah are likely to be pricey, it’s worth pointing out; just like the best laid plans of mice and men can often go awry, so too can they go awry for the boys of summer.
The ticket price for Jeter's final games will be determined by a number of factors, the most prominent being his health, that is, if he doesn't land on the DL before the end of the season; the other determining factor is tied to the Yankees playoff chances.
According to Gregoire, ``if Jeter lands on the DL in the lead up to any of these games, prices will fall. If the Yankees are running away with the AL East in mid-to-late September, the same thing will happen for the regular season finale in the Bronx.’’ ``On the other hand’’, Gregoire says, ``if they're eliminated or likely to miss the playoffs at that point, prices for that game could go even higher.’’
What follows is a brief breakdown of the current average ticket price and minimum asking price for Jeter's farewell games outside of the Bronx and Boston.
9/17...Tampa Bay: $76 / $39
9/17...Tampa Bay: $76 / $39
9/14...Baltimore: $97 / $42
8/31...Toronto: $82 / $22
8/28...Detroit: $81 / $42
7/30...Texas: $83 / $34
7/10...Cleveland: $74 / $30
7/6...Minnesota: $90 / $39
6/15...Oakland: $118 / $33
6/12...Seattle: $98 / $29
6/9...Kansas City: $96 / $36
5/28...St. Louis: $118 / $44
5/25...Chicago (AL): $90 / $22
5/21...Chicago (NL): $141 / $62
5/15...New York (NL): $144 / $72
5/11...Milwaukee: $78 / $34
5/17...LA/Anaheim: $125 / $38
4/3...Houston: $129 / $46
Source: SeatGeek Inc.
***
-Bill Lucey
February 13, 2014
Jill Abramson, left, a New York Times managing editor, during the announcement in 2011 that she will succeed Executive Editor Bill Keller, center, who became a full-time writer. Dean Baquet, right, became the managing editor for news. (Photo Credit: Fred R. Conrad/New York Times).
***
I’ll admit when I first caught sight of the headline on Twitter Sunday evening, which read: ``Bill Keller, Former Editor of the Times…..’’, my heart skipped a few beats-I thought, just for a moment, another former editor and prized journalist bit the dust.
Thankfully, the news wasn’t nearly as gloomy. The screaming headline was just an announcement, a stunning one at that, reporting that the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist was leaving the Times to become editor in chief of The Marshall Project, a nonprofit journalism start-up focused on the American criminal justice system.
Keller, 65, will remain at the Times through the end of next month.
In an article published on the Times’ website Sunday evening, http://is.gd/65p4p2 in expressing his reasons for leaving, Keller said, ``It’s a chance to build something from scratch, which I’ve never done before, and to use all the tools that digital technology offers journalists in terms of ways to investigate and to present on a subject that really matters personally.”
In addition to earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his ``resourceful and detailed coverage’’ of events in the U.S.S.R., as a Times’ correspondent in Moscow, Keller served a tour of duty as chief of The Times bureau in Johannesburg from April 1992 until May 1995, where he covered the end of white rule in South Africa and the election of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress as the governing party in 1994. Keller is the author of “The Tree Shaker: The Story of Nelson Mandela,” published in January, 2008, by Kingfisher.
Prior to being named managing editor in 1997, he served as foreign editor from June, 1995 through 1997; and for two years, beginning in mid-2001, contributed articles to the paper's Sunday magazine as a senior writer and also wrote a bi-weekly column that appeared on the op-ed page.
Keller first landed at the Times in 1984 and was assigned to its Washington bureau, where he covered labor, agriculture and military affairs.
The multifaceted journalist’s most profound impact on the Times clearly came when he was named executive editor on July 14, 2003 amid a tumultuous storm of embarrassing scandals which damaged the paper’s credibility and accuracy. Upon assuming the editorship, Keller said, ``This organization is a national treasure. I will do everything in my power to uphold its high standards, preserve its integrity and build on its achievements.’’
And that he did.
The California native introduced a public editor position in October, 2003 for the first time in paper’s history, with the independence to address readers' comments about The Times’ coverage without interference from the editorial division. Under his commanding leadership, The Times captured 18 Pulitzer Prizes, while he shepherded the paper through a difficult period of financial challenges, including expansion of the paper’s website as reader’s migration to the web picked up steam. Keller also introduced an editor’s forum in which a different editor would address readers concerns and questions about the Times’ coverage in a week long online Q & A forum.
Keller experienced a few bumps along the way during his distinguished reign as executive editor, the most biting criticism came when the Times learned, just prior to the 2004 election, that the U.S. government was secretly monitoring communications between Americans without a warrant, a surreptitious act in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), considered a felony. The Times was reportedly prodded by the George W. Bush administration to withhold reporting on it until December, 2005, more than a year after the U.S. presidential election.
Still, when Keller officially stepped down as executive editor in September, 2011 to return to writing as an op-ed columnist, Forbes Magazine hailed him as ``the man who rebuilt the confidence of The New York Times newsroom after the Jayson Blair scandal’’; sentiments echoed by Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker, when he wrote of Keller’s legacy, ``the quality and quantity of Times journalism remain unsurpassed on Planet Earth.''
So while his new venture at the Marshall Project represents an ideal opportunity to focus on a raising public awareness of the state of the American criminal justice system (a sorely underreported topic), Keller’s departure has left a great many of his friends and colleagues stunned with their spirits downcast, even though wishing him nothing but the very best with the next chapter of his life.
What follows is a collection of reactions to the end of the Bill Keller era, at least at The New York Times.
He's also the best traveling companion a foreign correspondent can want. We've had days in Shanghai and Tokyo and Washington where Bill's dry humor, his refusal to take himself too seriously, and his sense of history made the travels more memorable than whatever story we were working on. He'll make this new venture a great success because everything he touches improves as soon as he puts his hands on it. I'll miss him at the Times.''
-David Sanger, New York Times National Correspondent.
• ``Brilliant job for Keller. Think Neil Barsky’s Marshall concept is inspired. Criminal justice reform is a really cutting edge issue now and recruiting Keller brings the launch immediate authority and heft.''
-Tina Brown, Co-Founder and former editor of The Daily Beast; currently President & CEO, Tina Brown Live Media Founder, Women in the World.
• ``Two reactions. As a Times person I'm truly sad. When someone like Bill leaves the paper we are diminished. As a friend of his, I'm thrilled. He will build something special on a big topic. And he will have much fun.''
-Dean Baquet, Managing Editor for news at The New York Times.
• ``Bet on Keller. He covered epochal shifts in South Africa and the Soviet Union, and he lived (and led) through one at the Times. The criminal justice system is on the cusp of such a moment. He's the right guy for the time and task.''
-Jim Dwyer, New York Times Columnist (``About New York'').
• ``The darkest period I witnessed at the Times was in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal. Bill Keller inherited a newsroom that was reeling from management disarray, bitter morale and serious credibility issues. His calm, rational leadership proved essential to getting the Times through that time of crisis, when there was little room for error. Anyone who values the paper as a fundamental American institution owes him a debt of gratitude. ''
-Frank Rich, former New York Times op-ed columnist; currently Writer-at-Large for New York Magazine.
• ``Bill Keller is a towering figure in modern journalism and the template for the ideal editor, which is to say one with a deep reporting background, a prose style of exceptional grace, a wry sensibility, a mature temperament, moral courage, and a default mode of curiosity, skepticism and impartiality. He was once asked, in a casual conversation on an airplane, how long it takes to write a Times story. He had three answers: (1) very fast, if need be (2) thanks to a reporter's expertise developed over perhaps decades (3) informed by the culture and values of a newspaper that has existed since before the Civil War. His departure is a hard blow, but it is tempered by the point of what he said on the plane: he has shaped the place in ways that will linger for a long time. ''
-Adam Liptak, U.S. Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times.
• ``I'm not sure people appreciate what a brilliant job he did, stepping in as executive editor at a time when the newsroom was badly disrupted by the Jayson Blair episode and everything surrounding it. His intelligence and steady leadership restored stability and a sense of journalistic mission that was exactly what The Times needed in that moment.
I'm sure he would have been an excellent executive editor under any circumstances, but I'm not sure anyone else would have been better for that time.''
-Tom Jolly, Former New York Times' Sports Editor, currently, Associate Managing Editor at the Times.
• ``Great for Bill, great for the issue of justice, and pretty damn good news for those of us involved in figuring out new models for financing vital journalism.''
-Joe Sexton, former New York Times metro and sports editor, currently senior editor at ProPublica.
• ``Bill Keller excelled as a correspondent, editor and columnist, but many of us who have worked with him will remember him best for the decency and sure-handedness with which he steadied the ship as Executive Editor after the storm that battered us in 2003; and, beyond that, for the good stewardship that saw us through the worst of the economic crisis of recent years before he handed over in 2011 to Jill Abramson, his masthead partner through those torturous times. On a personal note, I'm indebted to Bill for the unfailing support he gave all of us who covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq in the years when he was at the helm in New York. Here's a fare-thee-well for your new venture, Bill.''
-John F. Burns, Chief Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times
• ``I get it, and I love the fact that he's still looking for new things to do. I'm just really sorry to see him go; I was a big fan of his column and I thought he did a terrific job as executive editor, steering the paper through some really tough times. He should be awfully proud of his tenure here.
I can't figure out what's more challenging: To be an ex-president or to be an ex-executive editor of the New York Times. It's like, what do you do next?''
-Adam Nagourney, L.A. Bureau Chief for The New York Times
• ``In addition to being a great journalist (as everyone knows), Bill was also a great boss and manager (which may be less well known). More than once I've heard Jill Abramson say Bill was the model in many ways for her own approach to leadership. One more thing: Bill is a first-rate critic and literary writer, and we were always delighted when he accepted Book Review assignments. (Pamela Paul, the current Book Review editor, will confirm this.) Of the several fine essays he wrote for us, I recommend in particular his meditation on the late Christopher Hitchens.''
-Sam Tanenhaus, writer-at-large for The New York Times.
• ``An awesome journalist and guy. They're lucky to have him. The spirit of adventure he shows here is just one more thing to admire about him.''
-Jonathan Landman, former New York Times culture editor; currently Bloomberg View editor-at-large.
• ``Bill Keller is one of the great print journalists of our time. His reporting from Moscow in particular set a standard that has rarely been equaled and never surpassed. So we'll miss him here at the Morning Miracle, but I look forward to watching him apply his talents to criminal justice issues.''
-Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist.
• ``I’m a big fan. I look forward to seeing what Bill can do with this new venture. He’s always been a great supporter of investigative reporting and I have no doubt that he will turn this new venture into something formidable. It reminds me of the tremendous good fortune ProPublica had in landing Paul Steiger as its founding editor.''
-Stephen Engelberg, former New York Times Investigative Chief, currently Editor in Chief of ProPublica.
• ``The yardstick for determining greatness in journalism has always been, in my mind, "in whatever they wrote/edited/managed, did that person make the journalism better as a result?" During his distinguished journalism career, Bill Keller made it better. And he did it on his terms at the highest level--the New York Times. And had the integrity to match.''
-Neil Amdur, former New York Times sports reporter.
***
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 11, 2014
Have you ever wondered what the newspaper culture is like in Russia compared with western countries, such as in the U.S. and the U.K.?
With approximately 13,000 journalists approved with press credentials for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games beginning on Friday in Sochi, a city located on the shore of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Western Caucasus mountain region, the environment should be ripe for a blistering amount of newspapers, tabloids, and broadsheets being absorbed by tourists and local inhabitants at restaurants, cafes, and the lobby’s of plush hotel rooms.
But when discussing the newspaper culture in Russia, you need to keep two things in mind: The first is that the vast majority of Russians rely on state-controlled television rather than print newspapers for their information. The other is that we’re well into the 21st century and living in the age of the Internet, smartphones, and other mobile devices; so print news publications, much like the U.S. and U.K., are becoming less relevant.
If you were to pop your head into a café or bakery in any major city in Russia, you’ll likely find most customers not flipping through a newspaper, but more likely combing the Internet on their ipads , smartphones, or parked in front of an Internet bank.
According to the global market and research firm TNS; the number of Internet users in Russia has leaped to 70 million, representing 50 percent of the population. In April, 2012, Russia’s largest browser Yandex, moreover, reported 19 million visitors a day, more than the popular state-controlled Channel One with an audience of nearly 18 million.
This is not to suggest that Russia is without worthwhile print news publications.
William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., tells me, ``at the very top, there are some very strong quality newspapers that have strong economics and foreign affairs sections and discuss Russian politics and foreign affairs without getting to close to specifically discussing [Russian president] Vladimir Putin. ‘’
And though many of these newspapers have limited circulation, Pomeranz admits, ``they allow the engaged middle class to follow these debates in an informed manner. The quality newspapers have a lot of good information.’’
The problem of plummeting circulation, prevalent with so many metro dailies in the United States, Pomeranz informs me, isn’t much different in Russia; only that it’s much worse in the Russian regions, where there is markedly less money to support newspapers.
And many newspapers, some might be surprised to learn; don’t shy away from some of the more contentious issues gripping the Russian Federation. When the feminist protest band, Pussy Riot, were locked up for staging a blasphemous performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February, 2012, a number of newspapers in Russia editorialized about the world wide outcry and were surprisingly highly critical of the jailing, not so much of the strong arm tactics of Putin specifically, but of the process and how the law was interpreted, according to Pomeranz.
By and large, however, despite freedom of expression and of the press guaranteed in the Russian constitution, at least on paper, in practice, accessing information, whether through the judiciary or other government institutions is a mighty tall order, if not impossible, for a great many journalists. Russia's powerful and corrupt court system, many argue, are used to silence those journalists bold enough to report widespread governmental abuses.
More troublingly, according to Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world, ``journalists in 2012 faced the threat of intimidation or physical attack when covering sensitive topics such as the situation in the restive North Caucasus, government corruption, organized crime, police torture, electoral violations, and opposition activities and protests.''
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), two journalists were killed in Russia in 2013, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, a deputy editor of the independent news outlet Novoye Delo who was gunned down outside his home; the other was Mikhail Beketov, former editor of the independent newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, who died in the hospital after a choking incident.
Buck Ryan, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky and director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, who in September 2013 spent 10 days in Moscow speaking with journalism faculty and students at Russia's premier journalism school at Lomonosov Moscow State University, says freedom of expression in Russia is a ``negotiated dance.’’
``I've done newspaper workshops on four continents’’, Ryan told me, `` but Russia was the only place where opening remarks were provided by the government official/news media handler for the district.’’
Despite the restrictive press freedom, Ryan emphasizes that the most open forms of expression in the country can be found online, most prominently through social media, either affiliated with the few independent newspapers or through the 42 million blogs, such as drugoi [photojournalistic online magazine]; or ibigdan [news aggregator].
Another way to better appreciate the dissemination of news in Russia is to understand that newspapers are not nearly as influential as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal are in the United States. Rather, newspapers in Russia not only have much less circulation, but more importantly, they’re largely balkanized with different segments of the Russian population gravitating toward the publication consistent with their particular viewpoint. So, for example, Rossiskaya Gazeta, a Russian government daily newspaper of record, which publishes the official decrees, statements and documents of state bodies, is predominantly read by officials and bureaucrats and those wanting to understand the official viewpoint, while Kommersant a nationally distributed daily newspaper devoted to politics and business, is for the most part consumed by the business elite.
Greg Simons, a senior researcher at the Department of Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University and a lecturer at the Department of Communication Science at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia, remarked that newspapers in Russia, periodically, are bought by business elites for a variety of reasons: to gain political capital by promoting the owner’s interest, damaging the reputation of a chief rival, or other times merely to advance their own agenda through unabashed self-promotion. Such scenarios, Simon says, ``was especially obvious during the so-called Information wars of the mid-1990s when there was an all out and very bitter and open struggle between rival businessmen.’’ ``Hard news’’ Simons argues, ``is becoming more problematic to work in due to it becoming very politicized.’’
An additional reason for the sinking newspaper circulation in Russia, Simons stresses, has to do with disposable income. The price for many news publications have increased (they were subsidized during the Soviet regime); and with money being so scare-most Russians opt for the free medium in acquiring news, which is television, even though most viewers know they may not be getting the full story of a particular issue, since the Kremlin, beginning in the 2000’s, secured control over the most popular channels.
So as we inch closer to the official start of the Winter Games in Sochi; let's hope the biggest stories splashed across a good number newspapers around the world involves the herculean efforts of the athletes from 88 countries valiantly competing for medals; and not about the repressive climate for information gatherers and that full media freedom will be extended to the estimated 13,000 journalists with press credentials.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 4, 2014
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Brief Historic Overview of Newspapers in Russia
• Vedomosti was the first printed newspaper in Russia, issued by the decree of Emperor Peter the Great on December 16, 1702.
• Russia's first privately daily newspaper was the Severnaya Pchela (Northern Bee) which started publishing daily in 1838, a publication chiefly charged with echoing the imperial prerogatives of Emperor Nicholas I.
• Nicholas I appointed a special committee to censor the press, forcing writers such as I.G. Golovin and Alexander Herzen to publish their journals and books in other major cities outside of Russia, such as Paris and London.
• In an effort to improve education and increase literacy, Russian Emperor Alexander II, beginning in 1855, encouraged the creation of privately owned newspapers through the relaxing of censorship restrictions, permitting street sales, and extending freedoms to commercial advertising.
• The first independent commercial newspaper was Golos (The Voice), a reformist daily founded by Andrei A. Kraevsky in Moscow in 1863.
• By 1870, there were 79 Russian-language newspapers in operation, nearly five times as many as a decade earlier.
• In 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by nihilists of "Will of the People" only to be succeeded by Alexander III, who enacted a series of anti-terrorism laws, restricting civil rights and freedom of the press.
• After the 1905 revolution, the press for a brief period, was freed from prepublication controls, resulting in increased newspaper circulation.
• Once Bolshevik publications such as Iskra and Pravda founded by V.I. Lenin in 1900 and 1910 respectively, increased their hostile attacks on the imperial regime, a fresh crackdown on independent newspapers ensued.
• When Lenin assumed power in 1917, he closed over 300 opposition papers and established a system of tight controls, including the banning of the conservative American press from Russia.
• During the Leninist period (1917-1925), an official newspaper for the Soviet state (Izvestia) was founded to go along with the Communist Party paper Pravda.
• A formal censorship office, referred to as Glavlit was established in 1922.
• A state information system run by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was created in 1925.
• 1990: 28th Party Congress; Supreme Soviet passes a law to lift censorship from the press.
• 2006: Two Russian newspapers closed after publishing the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that ignited worldwide demonstrations with one of the editors being charged with inciting hatred.
• Most recent figures suggest that there are 8,978 newspapers in Russia, with a total annual circulation of 8.2 billion copies.
Source: ``A Historical Dictionary of Journalism’’ By Ross Eaman; ``The Media In Russia’’ By Arutunyan, Anna
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About Sochi
• Sochi is a southern Russian city located in the Krasnodar Region, stretching approximately 90 miles along the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
• Founded in 1837 as a military fortification.
• In 1898, the Special State Commission designated the region as an ideal setting for a health resort.
• In 1909, the first real estate complex, Caucasian Riviera, consisting of four hotels, a restaurant, a theatre, a hydropathic and an electric power station was introduced.
• Helped by generous state subsidies, the region experienced rapid growth beginning in the 1930's, transforming the city into a flourishing health-resort, receiving 4,000,000 tourists annually, including 200,000 from abroad.
• During World War II, given its large supply of hotels and sanatoria, one of the largest military hospitals was established in Sochi.
• In the early 1960's, the coastal strip encompassing several towns, some tens of villages, including the city of Sochi were incorporated into a new administrative unit-of Greater Sochi.
• Greater Sochi is some 93 miles long, making it the world's second-largest metropolis after Los Angeles.
• Most of Sochi's territory consists of mountains and foothills of the Western Caucasus, covered with forests.
• Sochi is reportedly the warmest place in Russia. The climate is subtropical and the city records about 200 sunny days a year. Temperatures average 24 ˚ C (75 F) during the day in the summer and 5 ˚ C (41 F) in the winter. Tourists typically take to the sea for swimming from April until October with skiing taking place from October through May.
• Sochi has a population of more than 400,000, comprised of more than 90 nationalities, including Russian, Armenia, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Greek.
• Over two million tourists visit Sochi annually with its spa facilities numbering over 250.
***
Key Facts about the Winter Games
• 88 countries will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
• 98 sets of medals will be awarded in 7 Olympic sports.
• 6,000 Olympic athletes and team members are expected in Sochi for the Olympic Winter Games.
• An estimated 3 billion television viewers throughout the world will be watching the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
• There will be 17 days of competition.
• Seats at the opening ceremony on February 7 are priced at between $793 and $1,838.
• About 213,000 visitors are expected to come to Sochi, which borders Russia's tumultuous North Caucasus republics. Two suicide bombings killed 34 people in Volgograd on December 29, 2013, roughly 434 miles north of Sochi.
• The North Caucasus, approximately 62 miles east of Sochi, is considered the most dangerous place in Russia, ranking it among the top five most dangerous places in the world involving terrorism.
• The Washington Post recently reported that from January to September of 2013, 375 people were killed and 343 wounded in the North Caucasus region, including 68 civilians, 100 police officers and 200 terrorists. Between October and December, three suicide bombers-trained in Dagestan (300 miles east of Sochi)-killed more than 40 people.
• President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly indicated security will be guaranteed in Sochi, with about 40,000 personnel firmly entrenched in the area.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the price tag of holding the Olympics in Sochi has reached $50 billion, making it the most expensive Olympic Games in history, more than the approximately $40 billion spent by China on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, by contrast, cost more than $7 billion.
Source: The Embassy of the Russian Federation http://is.gd/6sqjOs ; Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Press Service http://is.gd/IN1R3K
