NBC begin tuning in to London

[Fiona]

The London Olympics may be seven years away and much of the building work has yet to start, but today a meeting will take place at Canary Wharf which will provide the first real feel that the Games are coming.

It will mark the occasion when NBC, the American broadcaster of the Games, come to town. Lord Sebastian Coe, the president of the organising committee, will host Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Sport and Olympics. NBC, who have been showing the Olympics since 1988, are paying £1.12 billion to televise the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 London Olympics, with the bulk of the cost going towards the London Games.

Coe will explain how London won the bid followed by presentations on the concept, how they will be staged and the marketing and advertising that will surround the Games. His organising committee plan to raise £1.5 billion to help finance some of the local costs of the Games.

Coe and his team have also been busy finalising the board of the organising committee. I understand that apart from Coe and his deputy, Keith Mills, this will include Sir Robin Wales, the Mayor of Newham, the three British members of the International Olympic Committee, Craig Reedie, the Princess Royal and Phil Craven, Simon Clegg, the chief executive of the British Olympic Association, and the BOA chairman, likely to be Lord Colin Moynihan, plus a representative from the government and one from the Mayor of London's office. Lord Patrick Carter, head of Sport England, is likely to chair the legacy board.

But things will only start moving on the organising committee once Coe appoints a chief executive. The job, worth £500,000 a year, is likely to go to a Briton, with an announcement due at Christmas.

The Telegraph