The Real Olympics fight: NBC vs. ESPN?
TMC
Forbes | Oct. 6, 2009 7:55 a.m.
"Immediately after Rio got the nod for the 2016 Olympic Games, Dick
Ebersol, Chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, said the value
of the TV deal for the 2016 Games was 15 percent lower than if Chicago
had won," Mike Ozanian writes. He then adds, "Ebersol must be living
in a fantasy world. I predict ESPN will pay close to $2.5 billion
combined for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, $500 million more than NBC
paid for the previous Winter and Summer Games. ESPN, which has never
held the U.S. broadcasting rights to the Olympics (in 2003 Disney-
owned ESPN and ABC offered a not-to-be-taken seriously revenue-sharing
bid for the 2010 and 2012 Games), announced it was going to be a
serious bidder for the 2014 Winter and 2016 Summer Games last summer."