Some say the Olympics has lost its popularity, but can Paris save it?

The Seine River, formerly so polluted it was illegal to swim in it, will be the centerpiece of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday, when 10,000 athletes from 206 countries float to the Trocadero in a 4-mile boat parade. If any city can pull off such a spectacle, it is Paris.

If any city can save the Olympics, it is Paris. The pressure is on the three-time summer host following three dud Games from 2018 to 2022 in faraway Korean, Japanese and Chinese time zones, the last two muted by the COVID pandemic and the absence of spectators. Tanking TV ratings, yawns from younger generations of would-be fans and crippling cost overruns have left the Olympic flame flickering.

Paris, along with the International Olympic Committee, has placed a $9.7 billion bet on hopes that the City of Light can restore the magic of the Olympic Games.

“The Olympics has lost its shine,” said Andrew Zimbalist, an economist, expert on the business of sports and author of “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup.” “Its audience has been fragmented by a zillion streamers and social media. The drug scandals, corruption, environmental destruction and political gamesmanship has rebounded negatively on the Olympics. I hope it will be safe in Paris. It’s a precarious world right now.”

Following a six-year cleanup project, the Seine is safe for humans. To prove it, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo jumped in last week. But protesters unhappy with the Olympic invasion have threatened through a social media campaign to defecate in the river — Je Chie Dans La Seine (“I poop in the Seine”) — and sabotage the open water swimming and triathlon events.

As the sun sets and the Eiffel Tower sparkles on Friday night, 325,000 spectators are expected to line the banks of the Seine to watch 100 barges ferrying athletes past Notre Dame and the Louvre.

“There won’t be a single bridge in Paris without some dancers on it,” choreographer Maud Le Pladec said during rehearsals. Each performer will be styled in a distinctive costume.

A highly visible, heavily-armed security force of 45,000 is a reminder of what a target the Olympics has become. Airports and airspace within a 90-mile radius will be closed during the ceremony.

“What the terrorists want above all is to prevent us from dreaming,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “There is no naivety. There is great lucidity. We will give ourselves the means to hold a very big opening ceremony.”

The ceremony traditionally serves as a symbol of unity and peace, and if ever the world could use a suffusion of Olympic brotherhood and sisterhood, it is now, says IOC president Thomas Bach, who decried not only violence in Gaza and Ukraine but the partisan politics fracturing countries like France and the United States. Last week at Paris’ Madeline Church Bach marked the start of the Olympic Truce, originally created by three warring Greek kings, which calls for a cessation of conflict during the Olympics.

“When our founder, Pierre de Coubertin, revived the Olympic Games 130 years ago — right here in Paris — he saw it as a way to promote peace,” Bach said at the Athletes Village, where he met with Palestinian, Israeli, Ukrainian and Olympic Refugee Team athletes. “May your voices inspire the political leaders of the world to take action for peace.”

U.S. flagbearers LeBron James and Coco Gauff embraced the Olympic message.

“Sport brings joy around the world,” said Gauff, who missed the 2021 Tokyo Games because she tested positive for COVID the day before her departure. “For Americans, it’s not like the NFL, where it’s one team against another. Americans cheer for Team USA and it’s an opportunity for our country to come together. Especially this year when there’s a lot of political turmoil.”

Gauff, who will be playing in her first Olympic tennis tournament on clay at Roland Garros, said she’s excited to meet James and exchange pins with him.

“Is my hand going to be way up here where he’s holding the flag?” she said. “I just hope I don’t drop it. They’ve never done this on a boat so I have no idea what to do.”

California skateboarder Nyjah Huston said he will proudly wear his USA uniform despite skateboarding’s anti-establishment, anti-competition ideology.

“Skateboarders aren’t used to putting all these outfits on, but it’s our duty to go out and rip for our country,” Huston said, adding, “The French skaters are sick. They have a lot of style.”

Skateboarding, 3X3 basketball, BMX freestyle, and the new sport of breaking (break dancing) will be staged in an “urban park” along the Place de la Concorde. Paris is taking a cue from London and showcasing its majestic iconic sites, a sure lure for Olympic tourists and TV viewers. Equestrian events will be held at Versailles, beach volleyball beneath the Eiffel Tower, fencing at the Grand Palais.

And, like London in 2012, Paris is using the Olympics as an urban renewal project, in Paris’ case for the poor northeastern area of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the Athletes Village will be converted into affordable apartments connected to the center city with a new Metro line.

Although Paris organizers are $3 billion over budget at $9.7 billion, these Games will be thrifty compared to Beijing 2008 ($52.7 billion), Sochi 2014 ($59.7 billion), Rio 2016 ($20 billion) and Tokyo 2021 ($35 billion). Paris has been careful not to repeat the “White Elephant” mistakes of past hosts: Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium cost $460 million to build, costs $10 million a year to maintain and is rarely used; state-of-the-art venues built for Athens 2004, which contributed to Greece’s economic meltdown, are falling apart, and Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, the Big O, is nicknamed the Big Owe.

“A growing number of economists argue that the benefits of hosting the games are at best exaggerated and at worst nonexistent, leaving many host countries with large debts and maintenance liabilities,” said a recent report by the Council for Foreign Relations.

The Olympic bill has scared away bidders. Oslo, Norway, leading candidate for the 2022 Winter Games, decided it wasn’t worth it, so Beijing, not exactly a winter wonderland and a human rights embarrassment for the IOC, got the Games by default. Brisbane was the only bidder for the 2032 Games. Los Angeles is having buyer’s remorse as its costs grow for the 2028 Games. There are fears the only bidders for 2036 will be from repressive regimes in China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“There’s a lot of funny accounting when it comes to the Olympics,” Zimbalist said. “The $360 million Paris says it is spending on security is not a credible number to me.

“Bad management and excessive expectations have led to the lack of bidders. The most rational thing would be to have one permanent host of the Summer Games and one permanent host of the Winter Games.”

Sochi proved to be a nightmare for the IOC. Russia invaded Crimea during the Games, and Ukrainian skiers spoke to the world’s media about the attack on their country. Revelations about how Russian drug testers passed clean urine samples through holes in the walls to prevent Russian athletes from testing positive made a mockery of the IOC’s anti-doping system. Russia has faced sanctions in the five Games since 2014, and broke the Olympic truce when it invaded Ukraine during the 2022 Games. Ukraine is opposed to a small number of Russians and Belarusians being allowed to compete in Paris as “neutral athletes.”

Doping allegations against Chinese swimmers — who were allowed to compete in Tokyo despite bypassing tests — has renewed criticism of anti-doping authorities.

The Olympics is at a crossroads. The perception of waning popularity is a problem. NBC, which signed a $7.75 billion deal with the IOC for exclusive broadcast rights for six Olympics, 2022-2032, saw viewership for the 2021 Tokyo Games drop 42 percent from the 2016 Rio Games, and drew the smallest audience for a Summer Olympics since it started coverage in 1988. The 2022 Beijing Winter Games were worse, a 47 percent drop from 2018, and the smallest TV audience ever.

NBCUniversal has expanded its coverage to a variety of platforms and 150 commentators, including Kenan Thompson, Kevin Hart, Jimmy Fallon, Snoop Dog, Alex Cooper and Leslie Jones. It’s not clear why, but NBC has paired Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning to join Mike Tirico for Opening Ceremony bons mots. These celebrities may not know a brioche from a Biles II (gymnast Simone Biles’ signature vault) but perhaps they can entice a younger crowd to care.

TikTok and YouTube will be covering the Paris Games, counting on influencers to spark interest in young people who don’t know what network TV is.

It’s part of the drive to attract a younger demographic, as is the addition of sports like breaking, skateboarding, surfing, kiteboarding, BMX and climbing. Flag football and lacrosse are coming in 2028. Could MMA be next?

And, with athletes enjoying longer Olympic lifespans -- Biles and Katie Ledecky are 27 -- the pivotal Paris Games could be a springboard for a new batch of stars.

“There was definitely a lull in the Olympics because of COVID,” said Ashleigh Johnson, Miami native and goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s water polo team. She’s going after her third gold medal. “There was no electricity, no buzz. In Tokyo, we were scared of each other. And back home everyone was maintaining their own bubble. Now people really want to connect again. They want to experience those two weeks of inspiring stories. They want to feel the Olympic spirit again.”