NBC has kept the Olympics right where they have been since 1988.
In an announcement made todaythe International Olympic Committee awarded the nework the rights to not only to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the 2016 Rio Summer Games.
But they also got the rights to the 2018 Winter Games and the 2020 Summer Games in cities yet to be named.
The deal according to multiple sources was worth $4 billion dollars and that was the magic number that many news outlets reported that the IOC was seeking for the rights for all four games.
Many thought that the retirement of Dick Ebersol would spell the death nell for NBC’s Olympics effort but in the end it came down to Brian Roberts the CEO of Comcast and his NBC Universal team selling the IOC on their abiility to keep what Ebersol built rolling while at the same time grow with the times.
It was also about the money!
Four billion dollar is a jaw dropping number but it is the cost of doing business with the IOC.
Both ESPN and FOX put together a good fight and made compelling reasons why they should get the games but in the end it was the combination of comfort and cash that seemed to keep the games with NBC.
What is not yet known is if NBC would broadcast the games live or tape delay them as they have in the past. It would be my guess based on the changing media landscape that they would run the events live and package together a block of the best events of the day for primetime.
However it is way too early to tell what they will do but it is clear that Brian Roberts and his team came Lausanne, Switzerland to keep the Olympic games and clearly they did.
Money was not the issue as some speculated that it might be but in the end as the sports world wondered if the new NBC Sports Group was going to be a player they made it clear that they are here to stay.
