ABC Makes Pitch for 2010, 2012 Olympics
The Associated Press
Jun 5 2003 1:05PM
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - ABC made its case Thursday to return to Olympic broadcasting, hoping to gain U.S. television rights to the 2010 and 2012 Games.
Executives of ABC and parent company Disney gave a 90-minute presentation to the IOC, stressing the network's legacy of Olympic coverage in the 1970s and 1980s and the broad reach of its ESPN cable channel.
``We have a long tradition,'' ABC president Alex Wallau said after the meeting. ``We're proud of
being the network of the Olympics and we'd love to be back in the business.''
The two other networks in the bidding, Fox and NBC, will make their pitches Friday.
The three companies will submit financial offers in sealed envelopes to IOC president Jacques Rogge on Friday.
Rogge and a small group of experts will immediately begin examining the bids and could announce a decision by Sunday. The IOC could also ask for new bids or put off a decision.
Olympic and industry officials say the combined rights fee for the two games could reach $2 billion - a one-third increase over the $1.5 billion NBC paid for the 2006 and 2008 Games.
The IOC says it is looking for the network that offers the best overall package, not necessarily the most money. The rights package will include broadcast, cable, Internet, video-on-demand, pay-per-view and other services.
In a pair of stunning deals in 1995, NBC secured the rights for the five Olympics from 200o to 2008 for a total of $3.5 billion.
Those negotiations, under former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, took place in secret without the other networks getting a chance to bid. This time, Rogge has pledged an open process.
The auction is taking place without the networks knowing where the two games will be held. The 2010 winter site will be selected on July 2, and the 2012 summer host will be picked in 2005.
ABC dominated Olympic broadcasting in the 1970s and 1980s, televising seven of the nine games during that period. Overall, ABC has broadcast 10 of the 23 games held since 1960, compared with five for CBS and eight for NBC.
The late ABC Sports president Roone Arledge is considered the founder of modern Olympic TV coverage. ABC's last Olympics was the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. It paid $309 million for those rights.
The IOC allocated two hours to each network. ABC's formal presentation lasted about one hour, followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers.
Officials said it was a straightforward presentation, focusing on substance and not glitz.
``It was an impressive and well thought-out presentation across a wide variety of platforms,'' IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
ABC Sports and ESPN president George Bodenheimer said the delegation stressed the various platforms offered under the Disney umbrella.
``The ESPN brand is one of the factors that makes doing business with us unique,'' he said. ``Certainly sports fans know where to turn for sports and that's an advantage we have.''
ABC's bid also includes tie-ins with the Disney Channel and Disney theme parks.
``We won't argue with anyone who says all the networks were created equally in terms of Olympic coverage,'' said Wallau, the ABC president. ``The thing we think distinguishes us is what ESPN brings to the table and what the Disney aspects bring to the table.''
Wallau cited ABC's coverage of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics and the spectacular gold medal-winning downhill run of Austrian skier Franz Klammer.
``To me it was a defining moment for the games, simply because it was a foreign athlete doing a sport that nobody in America really knew about, and yet it became this water cooler event the next morning,'' he said.
Donna De Varona, a former Olympic champion swimmer and an ABC consultant, said she spoke about the network's plans for promoting the Olympics between games.
``As we've seen the proliferation of sports on cable, what's been squeezed out is Olympic sports,'' she said. ``I'd like to see that back in. We can offer in-between coverage and platforms that no other entity can offer.''
TV rights fees provide the bulk of the IOC's revenue, with the U.S. share accounting for about 60 percent of the total. About half the money goes to the host cities, with the rest split among the IOC, international federations and national Olympic committees.
The U.S. Olympic Committee gets a 12.75 percent cut of the rights fees.
The Associated Press
Jun 5 2003 1:05PM
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - ABC made its case Thursday to return to Olympic broadcasting, hoping to gain U.S. television rights to the 2010 and 2012 Games.
Executives of ABC and parent company Disney gave a 90-minute presentation to the IOC, stressing the network's legacy of Olympic coverage in the 1970s and 1980s and the broad reach of its ESPN cable channel.
``We have a long tradition,'' ABC president Alex Wallau said after the meeting. ``We're proud of
being the network of the Olympics and we'd love to be back in the business.''
The two other networks in the bidding, Fox and NBC, will make their pitches Friday.
The three companies will submit financial offers in sealed envelopes to IOC president Jacques Rogge on Friday.
Rogge and a small group of experts will immediately begin examining the bids and could announce a decision by Sunday. The IOC could also ask for new bids or put off a decision.
Olympic and industry officials say the combined rights fee for the two games could reach $2 billion - a one-third increase over the $1.5 billion NBC paid for the 2006 and 2008 Games.
The IOC says it is looking for the network that offers the best overall package, not necessarily the most money. The rights package will include broadcast, cable, Internet, video-on-demand, pay-per-view and other services.
In a pair of stunning deals in 1995, NBC secured the rights for the five Olympics from 200o to 2008 for a total of $3.5 billion.
Those negotiations, under former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, took place in secret without the other networks getting a chance to bid. This time, Rogge has pledged an open process.
The auction is taking place without the networks knowing where the two games will be held. The 2010 winter site will be selected on July 2, and the 2012 summer host will be picked in 2005.
ABC dominated Olympic broadcasting in the 1970s and 1980s, televising seven of the nine games during that period. Overall, ABC has broadcast 10 of the 23 games held since 1960, compared with five for CBS and eight for NBC.
The late ABC Sports president Roone Arledge is considered the founder of modern Olympic TV coverage. ABC's last Olympics was the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. It paid $309 million for those rights.
The IOC allocated two hours to each network. ABC's formal presentation lasted about one hour, followed by 30 minutes of questions and answers.
Officials said it was a straightforward presentation, focusing on substance and not glitz.
``It was an impressive and well thought-out presentation across a wide variety of platforms,'' IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
ABC Sports and ESPN president George Bodenheimer said the delegation stressed the various platforms offered under the Disney umbrella.
``The ESPN brand is one of the factors that makes doing business with us unique,'' he said. ``Certainly sports fans know where to turn for sports and that's an advantage we have.''
ABC's bid also includes tie-ins with the Disney Channel and Disney theme parks.
``We won't argue with anyone who says all the networks were created equally in terms of Olympic coverage,'' said Wallau, the ABC president. ``The thing we think distinguishes us is what ESPN brings to the table and what the Disney aspects bring to the table.''
Wallau cited ABC's coverage of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics and the spectacular gold medal-winning downhill run of Austrian skier Franz Klammer.
``To me it was a defining moment for the games, simply because it was a foreign athlete doing a sport that nobody in America really knew about, and yet it became this water cooler event the next morning,'' he said.
Donna De Varona, a former Olympic champion swimmer and an ABC consultant, said she spoke about the network's plans for promoting the Olympics between games.
``As we've seen the proliferation of sports on cable, what's been squeezed out is Olympic sports,'' she said. ``I'd like to see that back in. We can offer in-between coverage and platforms that no other entity can offer.''
TV rights fees provide the bulk of the IOC's revenue, with the U.S. share accounting for about 60 percent of the total. About half the money goes to the host cities, with the rest split among the IOC, international federations and national Olympic committees.
The U.S. Olympic Committee gets a 12.75 percent cut of the rights fees.