NEW YORK (AP) _ Maybe it's that the competitions are aired nearly a day after their results are released on the Internet. Or maybe it's just that football is more popular.

Either way, NBC's ratings for the Sydney Olympics have been disappointing, and they aren't likely to get better.

They are down compared with the last Summer Games (Atlanta, 1996), the last overseas Summer Games (Barcelona, 1992) or the last Summer Games held this late in the calendar (Seoul, 1988).

Most significantly, the Nielsen numbers have yet to approach what NBC told advertisers they would. The first three days of taped telecasts _ not a single second of competition is being broadcast live _ have averaged a 14.5 national rating in prime time.

Factoring in the 15-hour time difference between Sydney and the East Coast, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said in June that he expected the coverage to average between a 17.5 and 18.5 during the Olympics. Advertisers were told the primetime average would be at least a 16.1.

So far, the ratings are 10 percent lower than that low-water level. They also are 32 percent lower than Atlanta's 21.4 through three days, and 10 percent lower than Seoul's.

NBC declined to comment late Monday.

Networks sometimes must give advertisers extra air time to make up for lower-than-promised ratings. NBC sold $900 million in advertising for the Sydney Games after spending $705 million for the TV rights and $100 million on production.

Things might not get better in a hurry for NBC, since the ratings were down despite the airing of two sports among the most popular with U.S. audiences. It's doubtful the swimming competition could become any more riveting _ eight world records were set in the first two days at the pool _ and the U.S. gymnastics teams have not shown much promise.

"There's not a whole lot you can do, frankly, to change course. What you hope for are major success stories or major athletes that you could promote," said Neal Pilson, who oversaw U.S. TV coverage of two Winter Olympics while president of CBS Sports.

One factor that could be hurting the ratings is the lengthy delay between when events are completed and when they are aired. Results are available on the Internet or on TV sportscasts as many as 20 hours before NBC shows the competition.

Preliminary ratings also indicate that these "Autumn Olympics" are not faring well against football. NBC's coverage from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday pulled in a 7.6 overnight rating (based only on the country's largest markets). Fox's NFL doubleheader, from 1-7 p.m., drew an 11.1, while CBS's NFL game got a 9.6.

Each rating point for NBC represents 1,008,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes.

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)