NBC to broadcast Olympics in the U.S. through 2036

The Olympic Games will remain on NBC through 2036.

A deal worth an estimated $3 billion with Comcast NBCUniversal was announced Thursday by the International Olympic Committee to extend the company’s U.S. media rights to include the 2034 Winter Games in Utah as well as the still to be determined host of the 2036 Summer Games.

The IOC’s sale of broadcast rights is seen as “a major contribution to the long-term financial stability of the entire Olympic Movement,” including Games hosts. Some 90% of the revenue generated is used to support athletes and sports organizations worldwide.

Utah’s next Olympics is counting on a share of the broadcast rights to help balance what adds up to a $4 billion budget that is expected to be funded without any tax dollars. Besides broadcast rights, the other major sources of revenue are from selling sponsorships and tickets.

Just how much organizers of the 2034 Games will receive has not been made public, although the budget relies on a $721 million contribution from the IOC, made up of revenue from the sale of all broadcast rights worldwide as well as from international-level sponsorships.

“Knowing nine years out that we will have the support of Comcast NBCUniversal is a real milestone for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City-Utah,” Fraser Bullock, the president and executive chair of Utah’s newly formed organizing committee, said.

But he said it will be at least three years before organizers see any payments from the IOC, so they’ll continue to depend on private donations to fund their work until after the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, when Utah becomes the next U.S. Olympic host.

The NBC deal, the first for what’s known as the Olympic quadrennial that begins with the 2034 Games, “gives us more certainly and confidence towards our budget long term but it doesn’t help our interim cash flow situation,” Bullock said.

He said organizers are excited to continue a relationship that began when NBC broadcast the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Since then, Bullock said “Comcast NBCUniversal has been an outstanding partner in telling the story of Olympic and Paralympic Sport in America.”

The new deal is described as including “new, innovative joint strategic initiatives and projects.”

IOC President Thomas Bach, who steps down in June after 12 years as head of the Switzerland-based organization, called the agreement “groundbreaking because it goes far beyond the traditional media rights agreement which we have had for many years with our valued partner.”

Bach said given the rapidly evolving media landscape, “partnering with one of the world’s leading media and technology companies, we will ensure that fans in the United States are able to experience the Olympic Games like never before.”

NBC has long held the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics. The network, along with the company’s other brands including Peacock, a streaming service, will have covered 25 Olympic Games by 2036, including 19 consecutively.

In 1995, NBC paid a record $545 million for the broadcast rights to the 2002 Winter Games. Prior to that, the most ever paid to televise a Winter Games was $375 million, by CBS for the U.S. rights to the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

“There is no event like the Olympics. Its power to bring joy, and the unifying spirit it embodies, are truly unique,” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said, promising the new deal means “even more innovative technological support and solutions” will be provided.

Coverage of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris reached an average of 67 million viewers daily across the company’s broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. The 23.5 billion minutes streamed on Peacock were said to be 40% more than all prior Summer and Winter Games combined.

The deal was approved Wednesday by the Bach-led IOC Executive Committee, which authorized the next IOC president, who will be elected on March 20, to sign the agreement after taking office in June.