Bristol sports broadcaster ESPN lost its bid on Tuesday for the right to air its first Olympics in the U.S., as NBC continued its 20-year reign of broadcasting the international sports event.
NBC parent Comcast put in a bid with the International Olympic Committee worth $4 billion for the rights to air the Olympics through 2020, according to the Associated Press. ESPN and its ABC parent Walt Disney Co. put in a bid for just the next two Olympics – 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The bid by ESPN did not offer a dollar figure but offered to share revenue with the IOC.
“We made a disciplined bid that would have brought tremendous value to the Olympics and would have been profitable for our company,” ESPN said in a released statement. “To go any further would not have made good business sense for us. We wish to congratulate the IOC on a fair and transparent process, and we offer our best wishes to Comcast/NBC. We put our best foot forward with a compelling offer that included the enthusiastic participation of all of The Walt Disney Company’s considerable assets.”
ESPN has never had the rights to air the Olympics in the U.S., although it does retain rights to air them in other countries, said Josh Krulewitz, ESPN spokesman. The Bristol network previously bid for the U.S. rights in 2003 for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, but lost to NBC.
When the network announced its intentions in 2008 to bid for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, its vice president of content John Skipper said the network would not air the event on a tape-delay. NBC has aired previous Olympics on a tape delay — often hours after the results are known — so they can be shown in prime-time, a move that riles sports enthusiasts.
ESPN would have fulfilled its promise had the network won the U.S. broadcast rights, Krulewitz said.
“We were going to feature every minute of the Olympics live,” Krulewitz said.
News Corp.’s Fox also bid. NBC has aired the Olympics in the United States for the past 20 years, and the new contract extends that reign for another 10 years.
