US Olympic rights likely to go for more than $2bn 16/12/2009 |
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The International Olympic Committee expects to raise more than $2bn when it sells the US television rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.
Richard Carrion, the IOC negotiator for the US rights, believes at least three networks or consortiums will bid to show the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
And he thinks the final deal will be more lucrative than the $2.2bn NBC and parent company General Electric paid in 2003 for the rights to the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2012 London Games.
The negotiations have been on hold because of the global financial downturn but Carrion revealed that things are picking up and that he hopes to finalise an agreement next year.
“We can still wait but things are better than six months ago,” he said. “There’s a lot of things going on in the marketplace. It’s very likely we’ll do it in 2010 sometime. Whether it’s in the first half of the year or the second half of the year, it’s not clear.
“I think we will see different consortiums come together. In an event of the size of the Olympic Games, given the various platforms that are now available, I think it will require a consortium to be assembled to take full advantage of all of that.
“Whether there are companies that have most of those platforms in-house and can sub-licence or whether groups will assemble, that’s not entirely clear to us how that will shake out. But there is interest in the marketplace without doubt.”
Carrion added that the IOC is likely to use the same bidding process as in 2003 when it accepted sealed bids from the networks at a meeting in Lausanne: “That’s the inclination right now.”
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