NBC, ESPN and probably Fox are expected to make bids next month on the next set of lucrative Olympic broadcast rights in the United States, with the IOC hoping to surpass the previous US$2.2 billion deal.
Richard Carrion, the International Olympic Committee executive board member who negotiates the U.S. rights, said Thursday he is finalizing the bidding details with the networks ahead of the June 6-7 auction in Lausanne.
“I think we will have two, probably three interested parties that come all the way to Lausanne,” said Carrion. “I think we expect NBC to be coming. We expect ABC-ESPN to be coming. We expect Fox also to be coming.”
Carrion said he hasn’t heard anything definite yet but does not expect CBS to bid.
At stake are the rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Carrion said the networks can also bid on a four-games package including the 2018 and 2020 Olympics, whose host cities have not yet been chosen.
This will be the first U.S. auction since 2003, when NBC outbid ESPN and Fox for the rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics in a deal worth $2.2 billion.
Carrion won’t discuss minimum starting points or expected numbers, but has said the IOC hopes to top the previous fee. Adding two Olympics for a four-games package could bring the total rights deal to more than $4 billion.
“We are in the process at looking at contracts with the networks and hearing their suggestions,” Carrion said. “We’ve had good discussions with all the bidders. I’m hopeful that we’ll get a good result.”
The IOC had postponed the U.S. rights negotiations for more than a year because of unfavourable economic conditions.
NBC has broadcast every Summer Olympics from 1988, as well as every Winter Games from 2002.
In 2003, NBC paid $2 billion in direct rights fees and parent company General Electric chipped in an extra $200 million to sign on as a global Olympic sponsor.
NBC is now controlled by Comcast. ESPN is a unit of The Walt Disney Co., and Fox is owned by News Corp.
Carrion said a corporate sweetener is not a prerequisite to the next deal.
“All these things are a help, but we are always looking at the broadcasting side,” he said. “I can’t say [the GE deal] didn’t help, but when we look at the broadcast rights, one should not be conditioned on the other.”
TV rights fees provide the bulk of the IOC’s revenue, with the U.S. share accounting for more than half the total.
