ESPN head George Bodenheimer said ESPN/ABC intends to bid for the rights to the 2014 Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) begins the auction process over the next year.
According to Multichannel News Bodenheimer said ESPN/ABC was “very interested” in the future Olympic rights while cautioning that it “still has to make business sense”.
ESPN officials said bidding for the Sochi 2014 Games and the 2016 Games will likely unfold over the next six to nine months. A firm deadline is expected by October 2009 when the IOC determines which city – Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Madrid or Chicago – will host the 2016 Games.
The bidding is likely to surpass the $1 billion mark due to NBC Universal’s ratings and digital-media success with the Beijing Games, which held an $894 million rights fee.
ESPN vice president of content John Skipper said, “if I was holding the auction I would definitely want to hold it after this Olympics”.
ESPN officials said the IOC has assured them that the incumbent does not hold the rights for first negotiations and there will not be pre-emptive bidding for the package.
If ESPN/ABC secures the rights to the future Games it would differ from NBC’s coverage in one regard. West Coast residents would not be held back from viewing top events as did NBC when Michael Phelps’ record-breaking swims were held back until primetime arrived in the Pacific time zone, reports Multichannel.
Skipper said, “we would never put an event on tape delay. When we put ‘live’ on the screen we mean live right now. We don’t mean live three hours ago”.
He added “the unnecessary manipulation” of events for ratings purposes is a disservice to sports fans who expect information as soon as events occur.
