Commentary The recently completed Tokyo Summer Olympic Games were, in many respects, an unmitigated flop. NBC’s prime-time coverage averaged a paltry 12.9 million viewers, making for the weakest ratings since NBC first began airing the Summer Games in 1988. Overall, the Tokyo Games saw a 49 percent ratings drop since the previous Summer Games, 2016’s rendition in Rio de Janeiro, and a whopping 58 percent drop compared with the 2012 Summer Games in London. Many factors are likely to blame: The time difference between the United States and Japan made for difficult live viewing; the physical venues lacked camera-friendly enthusiasm due to the COVID-19 pandemic depriving the Games of in-person fan attendance and a general sense that these Games featured fewer megapersonalities along the lines of yesteryear’s Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. But for all the recent Games’ myriad woes, they were highly useful in at least one respect: They …