The Olympics May Not Come to Philly, But Philly Owns the Olympics

Comcast locks up TV rights for NBC through 2032.

In news that seems guaranteed to put a third Comcast tower on the Philly skyline in the next 15 years, the company announced that it had locked up broadcasting rights for the Olympics through 2032. Somewhere, David L. Cohen is preparing to take a Scrooge McDuck dive into pool of gold. 

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, at least by Comcast. We know the deal was probably really expensive: It cost NBC $4.38 billion to broadcast the games between 2011 and 2020. The Wrap reports the extension “from 2021 to 2032 is valued at $7.65 billion, plus an additional $100 million signing bonus to be used for the promotion of Olympism and the Olympic values between 2015 and 2020, according to an IOC release.”

Worth it? This winter’s Scochi games generated $1.1 billion in revenue for the company, helping increase NBCUniversal’s quarterly earnings by 28 percent. In any case, get ready America: Cyber Bob Costas is being built, as we speak, to handle hosting duties for centuries to come.