To say the ratings success of the Summer Games in Beijing has piqued the interest of NBC's rivals would be a huge understatement. ESPN president George Bodenheimer said Tuesday that his
network would definitely be in the running to air the Games in the 2014 and 2016. Fox, which participated in the last round of bidding, says it also is interested.
"If I was holding
the auction, I would definitely want to hold it after this Olympics," says ESPN executive John Skipper.
It's likely that only the 2014 and 2016 Games will be up for grabs and that
bidding will begin before October 2009, when the host cities for those Games will be named. NBC already holds the rights to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in London.
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