We’ve given you ESPN’s and Fox’s statements on the Olympic bidding for 2014 and beyond. It’s NBC’s turn. Here’s their statement as sent unedited.
NBCUNIVERSAL ACQUIRES U.S. MEDIA RIGHTS TO UNPRECEDENTED FOUR FUTURE OLYMPIC GAMES
LAUSANNE – June 7, 2011 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today that it awarded the U.S. media rights to the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games to NBCUniversal for $4.38 billion.
Brian Roberts, Chairman & CEO Comcast, said: “We are honored to continue as the U.S. Olympic broadcaster for the remainder of this decade. The vision for our new Comcast-NBCUniversal was to create new platforms and technologies to distribute the very best content. Every two years the Olympic Games provides iconic content for us to deliver on all platforms. We are proud to continue the rich heritage and long association that NBC has had with the IOC and I personally want to thank President Jacques Rogge and Richard Carrion for their long-term trust.”
Steve Burke, CEO, NBCUniversal: “I’m extremely pleased we will be continuing as the IOC’s U.S. media partner. Broadcasting sports events is an important part of our business and the Olympics are obviously a significant part of the portfolio. We have a talented and experienced team in place with a legacy of outstanding Olympics coverage and we are all looking forward to London next year and to Sochi and Rio after that.”
Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group: “It is a great thrill to know that NBC’s unsurpassed Olympic heritage and unprecedented partnership with the IOC will continue through 2020. The Olympics are a significant part of NBC and the IOC again recognized NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to promote, market, program and produce the Olympic Games. London, Sochi, Rio and the 2018 and 2020 Games will benefit from our ability to galvanize all the resources of the newly-formed NBC Sports Group to bring the Games to more homes and more platforms than ever.”
The decision came after two days of meetings held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. Switzerland, during which ESPN, Fox and NBC each gave a presentation and submitted their proposals to the IOC. The negotiation process started earlier this year with preliminary discussions conducted with all interested parties. Each proposal was discussed by an IOC delegation chaired by President Rogge.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement with our longstanding partner NBC. We received three excellent bids and would like to thank each broadcaster for their presentations. In the end we were most impressed with NBC, which not only has a track record for broadcasting the Games that speaks for itself, but also has a clear and innovative vision of where it wants to take the broadcast of the Games between now and 2020. We look forward to continuing to build on our already strong relationship beginning in London next year.”
NBC, America’s Olympic Network, has broadcast a total of 12 Olympic Games, more than any other network. The 2012 London Summer Olympics will be NBC’s 13th Olympic Games broadcast and seventh consecutive. Today’s announcement means that at the conclusion of the 2020 Summer Olympics, NBC will have broadcast 17 Olympic Games and 11 consecutive.
That’s it. More stuff to come.
