NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The selection of Vancouver, British Columbia, as host of the 2010 Olympics gives NBC the one North American site the network was counting on when it bid $2 billion for the 2010 and 2012 games.
But the broadcast unit of General Electric Co. (GE: Research, Estimates) probably won't get a chance to broadcast a summer 2012 games from New York, which would have been the even greater ratings and financial lift.
Olympics held in other parts of the world hurt U.S. broadcasts, the major source of revenue for the games, because the time difference requires events to be carried on tape delay. The lowest-rated Olympics of recent decades was the Summer 2000 games in Sydney, Australia.
The International Olympic Committee, which made the selection Wednesday, generally but not always alternates Olympics between the various regions of the world. So the general belief going into Wednesday's selection process was the best chance for a New York 2012 games would have been a win by Salzburg, Austria, for 2010.
But in a surprise move, the alpine city lost the first vote in the three-way competition, leaving the final vote between Vancouver and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
While Vancouver is on the right side of the globe for GE and NBC, it is unlikely to stir either the patriotic interest or viewership among U.S. audiences as a U.S. games would.
The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., all did better than the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Those Canadian games did slightly better than the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but the growth of cable television and other competitors to broadcasters have left network sports broadcasts with lower ratings than in past years.
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NBC agreed to the $2 billion rights deal for both 2010 and 2012 games without knowing where the games would be held. Executives there wouldn't comment on their preference for the site of the two games, and issued only a very general statement on Wednesday's vote.
"We offer our sincerest congratulations to the people of Vancouver on being selected to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and we look forward to working with them in the years ahead," said the statement from NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol.
Still, one official who has been involved in the Olympic selection process says that this probably isn't a bad outcome for NBC. It is assured of getting at least one North American games in its new two-games contract. And if Vancouver had lost Wednesday, Toronto would have been a strong contender for the 2012 games. Now New York won't have to worry about that North American competitor.
"If I'm NBC, I was pulling for the bird in hand," said the official. "I don't think New York is getting 2012 anyway. I don't think the other countries on the IOC are ready to vote for the U.S. yet, and that predates the strain in relations caused by the war (in Iraq). And New York can keep trying for 2012 as a way of helping a bid in 2016. They can argue that New York is farther from Vancouver than Athens (Greece, site of the 2004 games) is from Torino (Italy, site of the 2006 Winter Olympics)."
The 2012 Summer Olympics site will be selected in 2005.
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