Although insisting that NBC doesn’t take sides in, or influencing the selection of, Olympic host cities, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics, indicated he backs Toronto’s Olympic bid because of Toronto’s Eastern time zone.
He called the time differential between the NBC’s North American television markets and offshore Olympic sites, such as Sydney, “an ugly problem”.
When asked which country he preferred to host the 2008 Games, Beijing or Toronto, Ebersol said “I think I’ve answered it in one way by telling you that, obviously, if you want a live prime-time Olympics, having it in a time zone that’s the same as the majority of your country is certainly a very positive thing”.
The CBC’s Brian Willliams said NBC would be in a better position to influence an IOC vote if the network were negotiating now for the rights to 2008.
And of CBC’s live coverage of the Sydney Games, Ebersol said “as you know, the Canadians pay next to nothing for the rights – just about $20 million. We paid $705 million (for Sydney). So they can afford to air the Olympics in the middle of the night when nobody is watching”. He also said NBC will produce a superior telecast.
