NBC's $7.75B deal to keep the Olympics through '32 may actually "end up having more of an influence on China," according to Mark Dreyer of the GLOBAL TIMES. With U.S. rights locked up for the next two decades, NBC's input "will become more powerful than ever before -- despite what the IOC might say in public." NBC execs "will pressure the IOC to select future host cities that are to their liking," especially in U.S.-friendly time zones. That "could be crucial as Beijing's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is considered." The IOC watched video presentations by all five bids last week, but "it is increasingly looking like a two-horse race between Beijing and Almaty in Kazakhstan." Lviv's bid "is dead in the water given the continuing uncertainty in Ukraine." While Almaty would "fit the recent trend in awarding large-scale international sporting events to new territories in order to further develop the sport," NBC execs "would surely be far more interested in a China-based Games given the myriad story lines its producers could follow outside the sporting venues themselves" (GLOBAL TIMES, 5/13).
