On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee awarded the U.S. television broadcast rights to NBC in an unprecedented four-games package (2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020). NBC beat out both ESPN/ABC and Fox in the bid process, and did so by paying $4.38 billion for the rights to all four Olympics.
NBC Secures Olympic TV Rights With $4.38 Billion Bid
According to the Sports Business Journal, the bids from ESPN and Fox fell short of the $2.2 billion that the IOC is receiving for the 2010 and 2012 Games. Combined with the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics, NBC will pay $6.58 billion to broadcast six Olympics Games. Considering that both Fox and ESPN did not meet the current deal, and knowing NBC lost over $200 million on the Vancouver Games, it’s safe to say that NBC is set on continuing to drive up the bid price, even without Dick Ebersol.
As a fan of the Olympics, it would have been interesting (and even exciting) to see what ESPN would have done with the Games, especially since George Bodenheimer, ESPN President, said, “We think sport should be enjoyed live by sports fans so we would televise every minute of the Olympics live.”
But in the end, it just got too pricey. ESPN’s official statement, from their VP of PR, Josh Krulewitz:
“We made a disciplined bid that would have brought tremendous value to the Olympics and would have been profitable for our company. To go any further would not have made good business sense for us. We wish to congratulate the IOC on a fair and transparent process, and we offer our best wishes to Comcast/NBC. We put our best foot forward with a compelling offer that included the enthusiastic participation of all of The Walt Disney Company’s considerable assets.”
See More:
