Who’ll Broadcast Sochi 2014?

By Chris Ariens 

NBCU has one more Olympics after Vancouver — the London Summer games in 2012. And as NBC wraps up its coverage of the XXI Winter Olympics tonight, we’re left to wonder who will broadcast the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia? The IOC had planned to conduct the bidding process this spring, but could delay it due to the recession.

We asked ABC News president David Westin the other day if he’d like to see the games return to his network: “That’s really a question for [president of ABC Sports & ESPN] George Bodenheimer. Would I love to have the numbers? I’d love to have them,” said Westin, adding, “But as a shareholder would I want to have a $250 million dollar loss? I’m not so sure.”

NBC bid $2.201 billion for the Vancouver and London games in 2003. Late last year, GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt said he expected NBC would lose “a couple hundred million bucks” on the games. NBC earned $75 million on the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games.

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NBC Olympics production facility in Vancouver.

(Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBC)

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