And My Worst Nightmare May Come True

I love watching the Olympics, summer and winter alike. I did not watch any coverage on NBC because frankly, having to deal with “human interest” stories and the fact that they like to think only the US is participating is a little big annoying. The CBC in Canada did a much better job, they actually showed events live and yes, they knew there was more to the Olympics than speed skating and hockey.

I thought to myself “I shouldn’t be complaining, as long as ESPN don’t get the Olympics then watching it on US TV won’t be that bad.” Well……

With two months to go before the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, studios already are crunching numbers in preparation for bidding for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. That process is expected to be completed within the next year.

The question is, how much are the Games actually worth? Already NBC has secured sponsorships that will drive advertising revenues north of $1 billion well before Beijing’s Aug. 8 Opening Ceremonies.

Studio sources said the International Olympic Committee probably will receive a hefty hike in the price of rights to the Games to around $2.25 billion from the $2 billion NBC paid to air the 2010 and 2012 Olympics.

Fox, which was a player in the previous bidding, will be kicking the tires, and insiders expect ESPN to be a driving force, win or lose, in the final price to air the event. Sources at both companies confirmed the studios are interested and will be involved in the bidding.

Of course, NBC, which would have aired the Olympics seven times in a row, still remains the frontrunner to retain rights to the event, according to those same studio sources.

Complicating matters is that the IOC has not selected a location for the 2016 Games, with time-zone-friendly locales such as Chicago and Rio de Janeiro up against exotic locations such as Qatar and Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Could you imagine the 2016 games in Chicago (I’m not guaranteeing anything) with Tim McCarver calling the gold medal match between the US and Japan with Joe Buck? And Chris Berman wrecking the highlights of snowboarding in Sochi?

I’m begging for NBC to keep their rights because if ESPN or FOX grab the rights then I’m moving to England to watch it on the BBC.