The 2014 Winter Olympics open this Friday. While they are taking place a world away, how will they impact local businesses? We posed that question to our contributor Rebecca Harris.
There are seven Pittsburgh Penguins headed to the Olympics, along with bobsledder Lauryn Williams and a local Pittsburgh nurse going to provide medical care, so Pittsburgh will be well represented in Sochi.
While airlines and travel agents are booking low numbers of trips to Sochi, local advertising sales are up because of the large amount of TV viewing and streaming that NBC will be offering during the games.
Students at Carnegie Mellon are protesting companies that sponsor the Olympics because of the political stance Vladimir Putin has taken regarding LGBT rights.
"The students at CMU are protesting Coca Cola's sponsorship of the Olympics and they are saying 'don't let Coca Cola sponsor hate'" Says Harris "Because students have a lot of access and drink a lot of Coca Cola, that really impacts them directly."
