SpongeG
Feb 17, 2008, 5:52 AM
NBC head praises Vanoc's job
Dick Ebersol credits Olympic organizing committee CEO Furlong for smooth planning
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20080214/116092-36086.jpg?size=l
CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
Dick Ebersol, head of Sports and Olympics for NBC, which has broadcast rights.
When Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Sports and Olympics, was last in Vancouver in May 2004, he related to an assembly of business leaders how he bet $2.2 billion of his company's money on the expectation that Vancouver would win the 2010 Winter Games.
The broadcast rights bid was submitted to the International Olympic Committee just 25 days before IOC members were to choose in July 2003 between Vancouver, Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.
And even though he was certain the IOC would pick Canada, Ebersol was stunned when IOC members came within two votes of awarding the Games to South Korea.
It was, he said, a sobering reminder the Olympics is still a rough-and-tumble place for politics.
But on Wednesday, as he sat in a lounge at the Pan Pacific Hotel overlooking the new half-finished Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, from which NBC will broadcast the 2010 Games, Ebersol said he believes Vancouver has broken a political mould that's often afflicted the Games.
The organizing committee and its partners, he asserted, have achieved what precious few Olympic organizing committees have managed to do.
"I see an organizing committee that at this stage of the Games has done an unbelievable job of getting all the right things stirred up. The single biggest surprise for me is just how strong a Canadian team is going to come in here because of the union between the federal government, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Vanoc."
Ebersol, 60, returned to B.C. this week to participate in a Vanoc sponsorship conference and to tour some of the sporting venues, as well as the new convention centre. It was his first trip here since an aircraft accident in November 2004 in Colorado killed his 14-year-old son Teddy and severely injured Ebersol and another son, Charles.
Ebersol wields broad influence in the Olympics. NBC's television contracts and the sponsorship by its parent company, General Electric, are major sources of revenues for the IOC.
So when Ebersol says Canada is doing an unusually good job of organizing the Games, it's a comfort to both Vanoc and the IOC.
He didn't pull punches Wednesday when he said the stable Canadian organization is in stark contrast to the politics plagued 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. "We just saw in Torino what happens when a federal government really doesn't get behind the Games in a really big way and when the national Olympic Committee doesn't really promote the Games.
"The Italians had a very, very mediocre return for their team, and as a result the country never got caught up in the Games and the crowds were lethargic. That's not the case here. These things don't work this well all the time."
Ebersol credits much of that achievement to Vanoc president John Furlong, whom he described as "sort of like the Billy Graham of organizers."
"There seems to be something unique here, and if I had to put my finger on it, it would be Furlong," Ebersol said. "I am not a cheerleader. But Furlong's a really unique guy."
Ebersol said he watched the Vanoc CEO passionately talk to 200 sponsors on the joy and value of the Olympics.
"He sits there with no notes and does 30 minutes and leaves them wanting more. And all think they are in the best hands in the world, and you know what, they probably are."
When asked, Ebersol said he doesn't believe he paid too much for the rights to 2010. But the slumping U.S. economy isn't helping NBC's fortunes, especially when a 30-second spot in prime time sells for $750,000.
"I think it was a good investment, but the issue is that the Olympics, on the scale they are now in terms of rights, are not a prime business decision by any business standards," he explained.
"You buy into the Olympics because it is the most prestigious event organized in the world every two years. Whether or not you make money or don't make money is largely tied up in the economics of your country. So my hope will be that in two years our economy will recover enough to support this."
Ebersol said he lobbied to convince Vanoc to move the International Broadcast Centre from Richmond, as originally planned, to Vancouver's new harbourfront convention centre just to the west of the existing five-sails exhibition centre.
"I told Vanoc what they should want broadcasters to see is this beautiful vista of the water and the mountains," he said, sweeping his hand out across Vancouver harbour. "Why would you want to put broadcasters out in Richmond when they could see this instead?"
Ebersol doesn't yet know how much programming NBC will do for the Vancouver Olympics, but says it will be significant. And because Vancouver is favourable to North American time zones, almost all of coverage during prime time will be live.
jefflee@png.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=f83fbeac-41d9-4086-9e48-9c268737f153
Dick Ebersol credits Olympic organizing committee CEO Furlong for smooth planning
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20080214/116092-36086.jpg?size=l
CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
Dick Ebersol, head of Sports and Olympics for NBC, which has broadcast rights.
When Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Sports and Olympics, was last in Vancouver in May 2004, he related to an assembly of business leaders how he bet $2.2 billion of his company's money on the expectation that Vancouver would win the 2010 Winter Games.
The broadcast rights bid was submitted to the International Olympic Committee just 25 days before IOC members were to choose in July 2003 between Vancouver, Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Salzburg, Austria.
And even though he was certain the IOC would pick Canada, Ebersol was stunned when IOC members came within two votes of awarding the Games to South Korea.
It was, he said, a sobering reminder the Olympics is still a rough-and-tumble place for politics.
But on Wednesday, as he sat in a lounge at the Pan Pacific Hotel overlooking the new half-finished Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, from which NBC will broadcast the 2010 Games, Ebersol said he believes Vancouver has broken a political mould that's often afflicted the Games.
The organizing committee and its partners, he asserted, have achieved what precious few Olympic organizing committees have managed to do.
"I see an organizing committee that at this stage of the Games has done an unbelievable job of getting all the right things stirred up. The single biggest surprise for me is just how strong a Canadian team is going to come in here because of the union between the federal government, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Vanoc."
Ebersol, 60, returned to B.C. this week to participate in a Vanoc sponsorship conference and to tour some of the sporting venues, as well as the new convention centre. It was his first trip here since an aircraft accident in November 2004 in Colorado killed his 14-year-old son Teddy and severely injured Ebersol and another son, Charles.
Ebersol wields broad influence in the Olympics. NBC's television contracts and the sponsorship by its parent company, General Electric, are major sources of revenues for the IOC.
So when Ebersol says Canada is doing an unusually good job of organizing the Games, it's a comfort to both Vanoc and the IOC.
He didn't pull punches Wednesday when he said the stable Canadian organization is in stark contrast to the politics plagued 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. "We just saw in Torino what happens when a federal government really doesn't get behind the Games in a really big way and when the national Olympic Committee doesn't really promote the Games.
"The Italians had a very, very mediocre return for their team, and as a result the country never got caught up in the Games and the crowds were lethargic. That's not the case here. These things don't work this well all the time."
Ebersol credits much of that achievement to Vanoc president John Furlong, whom he described as "sort of like the Billy Graham of organizers."
"There seems to be something unique here, and if I had to put my finger on it, it would be Furlong," Ebersol said. "I am not a cheerleader. But Furlong's a really unique guy."
Ebersol said he watched the Vanoc CEO passionately talk to 200 sponsors on the joy and value of the Olympics.
"He sits there with no notes and does 30 minutes and leaves them wanting more. And all think they are in the best hands in the world, and you know what, they probably are."
When asked, Ebersol said he doesn't believe he paid too much for the rights to 2010. But the slumping U.S. economy isn't helping NBC's fortunes, especially when a 30-second spot in prime time sells for $750,000.
"I think it was a good investment, but the issue is that the Olympics, on the scale they are now in terms of rights, are not a prime business decision by any business standards," he explained.
"You buy into the Olympics because it is the most prestigious event organized in the world every two years. Whether or not you make money or don't make money is largely tied up in the economics of your country. So my hope will be that in two years our economy will recover enough to support this."
Ebersol said he lobbied to convince Vanoc to move the International Broadcast Centre from Richmond, as originally planned, to Vancouver's new harbourfront convention centre just to the west of the existing five-sails exhibition centre.
"I told Vanoc what they should want broadcasters to see is this beautiful vista of the water and the mountains," he said, sweeping his hand out across Vancouver harbour. "Why would you want to put broadcasters out in Richmond when they could see this instead?"
Ebersol doesn't yet know how much programming NBC will do for the Vancouver Olympics, but says it will be significant. And because Vancouver is favourable to North American time zones, almost all of coverage during prime time will be live.
jefflee@png.canwest.com
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=f83fbeac-41d9-4086-9e48-9c268737f153