Ebersol, who has steered NBC Sports since 1989, has claimed he is stepping down as chairman after failing to agree a new contract with Comcast, which recently completed its takeover of NBC Universal. Widespread reports have suggested that Ebersol had disagreed on various issues with NBC Universal's new chief executive, Steve Burke. Ebersol said he wanted “to make a really cool deal” with Comcast executives. “We just couldn't get to the same place,” he added in a statement.
Ebersol said his resignation was partly timed so it would be clear with both Comcast and the IOC that he would no longer be involved with the Olympics. He will be succeeded by current NBC Sports executive Mark Lazarus, who was only brought in as president of NBC Sports Cable Group earlier this year. Since being appointed in February, Lazarus, a former president of Turner Entertainment Group, has overseen operations at Golf Channel, Versus and the 11 regional Comcast channels.
NBC has broadcast every Summer Olympics from 1988, as well as every Winter Games from 2002. In 2003, NBC paid US$2 billion in direct rights fees and parent company General Electric chipped in an extra $200 million to sign on as a global Olympic sponsor. However, with IOC executive board member Richard Carrion finalising the bidding details with interested networks before the June 6-7 TV rights auction in Lausanne, the timing of Ebersol’s departure could have major implications in negotiations for the most lucrative broadcast deal in Olympic history.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said Ebersol's resignation came as a shock, but added that he had been told his resignation had “absolutely nothing to do” with the upcoming Olympic rights tender. Rogge also said he had been assured that NBC would bid for the US Olympic broadcast rights despite Ebersol's resignation. Rogge said he spoke by phone with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and two other executives who “reiterated the full support of NBC/Comcast for the Olympic movement and the Olympic Games”.
Before the announcement of Ebersol’s resignation on Thursday, IOC chief rights negotiator Carrion told The Associated Press: “I think we will have two, probably three interested parties that come all the way to Lausanne. I think we expect NBC to be coming. We expect ABC-ESPN to be coming. We expect Fox also to be coming.” The IOC has stated that it will consider bids for the four Games from 2014 to 2020 as well as just the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, with the four-Games package likely to be worth more than $4 billion.
