Last Word On The Olympics Bidding

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Ok, this will really be the last word on the Olympics bidding which begins tomorrow in Switzerland. I have a couple of thoughts about what could be a huge gamechanger for the network that wins the rights to the 2014/16 Olympics and possibly beyond.

Earlier today, I did an informal Twitter and Facebook poll on which network people thought would win the Olympics and of the responses, most thought ESPN would win. This tells you that Dick Ebersol’s resignation from NBC has given tweeps no confidence that Comcast can retain the rights. ESPN’s understated World Cup production last year appears to have given respondents assurance that the Worldwide Leader won’t go over the top for the Games.

There are some reservations about ESPN including the fact that during the 2014 Winter Olympics, the network would have to juggle college basketball and NBA games. However, I countered with the fact that with the Games in Sochi, any college basketball would not be pre-empted as the time difference is 9 hours on the East Coast. Any Olympic action would not begin until the wee hours of the morning Eastern time and end around 2 or 3 p.m.

For Fox, there are reservations about any possible Olympic robots or the Fox NFL Sunday theme. However, the fact that the network can bring a big 18-49 audience to the Games is one thing in its corner.

And as far as NBC is concerned, there are rumors flying that the International Olympic Committee is upset about Ebersol’s departure so close to the bidding according to respected Olympics reporter Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune.
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So what’s going to happen? It’s anyone guess. One thing for sure. We’ll be talking about the bids and the preparation to the Games for a while to come.

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