THERE is no bigger business in sport than the Olympic Games. The Summer and Winter Olympics (held two years apart) fetch billions of dollars in rights fees for the International Olympic Committee.
The host venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics are yet to be decided but the TV rights for the American broadcasters will be finalised in Lausanne over the next few days.
The bidding for the two Olympics is expected to cross $2 billion, which will be a big jump compared to the $1.5 billion paid by NBC for the 2006 (Torino, Italy) and 2008 Games (Beijing, China). The Winter Olympics is expected to fetch about $850 million and the Summer Games about $1.2 billion.
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TV rights have always been the biggest money earner for the IOC. It is no secret that the choice of venue has a lot to do with the commercial success of TV coverage of each Games.
When the Games travelled to Asia for the first time (to Seoul in 1988), American viewership determined the timing of some prime events in athletics.
Some of the premier athletics events had their finals scheduled at weird morning slots. This wasn