Internet company Yahoo is interested in bidding for the rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games in Canada, although it has not yet put together a formal offer, according to Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail.
Peter Sisam, a consultant who works with the International Olympic Committee, said that Yahoo was a potential bidder, after the IOC rejected the latest of two joint bids from Canadian public-service broadcaster CBC and telecommunications company Bell, which owns cable-television broadcaster CTV.
“CBC and CTV have had two lowball bids rejected now,” Sisam said. “There are other options out there – Yahoo is just one more.”
The latest joint bid from CBC and Bell, which was rejected in February, was understood to be around half the value of the C$153 million (€114 million/$153 million) that telecommunications company Rogers Communications and Bell jointly paid for the rights covering the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, and the 2012 summer Games in London. Rogers has said it will not bid for the next cycle of rights.
CBC and Bell have been reluctant to increase their offer significantly due to lingering doubts over the participation of NHL ice hockey players in the 2014 Olympics. The broadcasters are expected to table another offer in the summer, when the NHL and its players’ union are likely to have made a decision on participation. Ice hockey is Canada’s biggest sporting attraction on television.
Yahoo has a particular interest in Canada, where it is increasing its audience and advertising revenues at a faster rate than in the United States.