Let’s take a look at what NBC will be paying for the Olympics starting in 2012 and going through 2020. The 2012 rights were awarded to NBC in earlier bidding. The rights for 2014 — 2020 as we know were handed out Tuesday.
2012 (London) — $1.181 billion
2014 (Sochi) — $775 million
2016 (Rio de Janeiro) — $1.226 billion
2018 (TBD in July) — $963 million
2020 (TBD in 2013) — $1.418 billion
Total cost — $5.563 billion
That’s a lot of cash being sent to the coffers of the International Olympic Committee. Now the next round of broadcast bidding for 2014/16 will be for Canada, UK and Australia. We’ll be watching.
