ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer said he was confident that the network's plans for the Olympics would help "grow the Olympic movement." Speaking shortly before rehearsing ESPN's presentation this afternoon in Lausanne, Switzerland, Bodenheimer said that the network planned to offer live coverage of the Games and added that the combination of its networks and Disney's support would help the Olympics. Bodenheimer: "We're confident what we're proposing is going to help grow the Olympic movement." Unlike Fox Sports Media Group Chair & CEO David Hill, who said his network planned to bid on the '14, '16, '18, and '20 Olympics, Bodenheimer declined to comment on the number of Olympics ESPN planned to bid on or any specific aspects of its bid.
Bodenheimer did say that Walt Disney President & CEO Bob Iger was on his way to Switzerland and would arrive in time to join ESPN for its presentation to the IOC tomorrow morning, which is 9:30am local time, 3:30am ET. That presentation will be followed by NBC, which presents at a 12:30pm local time, 6:30am ET. An NBC spokesperson declined to comment on whether or not the network rehearsed today. After NBC's presentation, the IOC will accept sealed bids from all three networks and begin deliberating over whom it will award the Olympic rights. It hopes to announce the winner by 12:00pm ET.
Follow Tripp Mickle's Twitter feed @trippmickle for ongoing updates from the proceedings in Switzerland.
