Ebersol said that the IOC may even wait until after they chosen the host city for the 2016 Games on October 2 before opening formal bidding.

 

Chicago is bidding to become the first American city since Atlanta in 1996 to host the Games.

 

They are bidding against Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

 

Ebersol said:  “I’m not sure what some time means.

 

“They are waiting for a healthier, brighter economic picture all over the world but particularly in the United States since they depend on it so much.”

 

As reported on insidethegames said last December, Richard Carrion, the chairman of the IOC's Finance Commission, that they were prepared to wait until the economic climate improved before beginning talks with US broadcasters.

 

The previous U.S. rights negotiations took place in June 2003 before Vancouver had been awarded the 2010 Winter Games and London had secured the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

NBC beat out Fox and ESPN/ABC in a $2.2 billion (£1.4 billion) deal.

 

In 1995, NBC obtained the rights to five Olympics from 2000 to 2008 in a pair of deals worth a total of $3.5 billion (£2.3 billion).

 

NBC, owned by General Electric, attracted record audiences to its coverage of the 2008 Games in Beijing.

 

ESPN, the most-watched sports network, may bid for Olympic broadcast rights, Robert Iger, chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Corporate said earlier this.

 

The Olympics would be a good fit on ESPN, which can air events on six cable channels and on the company’s ABC broadcast network, he said.

 

Iger said: “I don’t put the Olympics in the kind of must-have category, but that said I think they deliver real value from a programming perspective."