Dick Ebersol

Biographical information

RolesOther
SexMale
Full nameDuncan "Dick"•Ebersol
Used nameDick•Ebersol
Born28 July 1947 in Torrington, Connecticut (USA)
NOC United States

Biography

Dick Ebersol has succeeded Roone Arledge as the producer of Olympic television in the United States. Ebersol earned his college degree from Yale in 1971 and then began working under Arledge at ABC Sports. He was the first person to be an Olympic researcher, producing reams of Olympic minutiae to be used by the ABC sportscasters during the Olympic broadcasts. In 1974, Ebersol was hired away from ABC and joined NBC. There he first worked in programming and developed the still-running late night hit, “Saturday Night Live”, with Lorne Michaels. In 1989, Ebersol became head of the NBC Sports Division. His primary influence on the Olympics has actually been in finance. In 1996, working in concert with Dick Pound, Ebersol negotiated a long-term contract between NBC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which brought NBC the broadcast rights to the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games and 2002, and 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The contract guaranteed income to the Organizing Committees of future Olympic Games and put the Olympic Movement on much stronger financial footing. The long-term contracts have been extended and NBC has garnered broadcast rights through 2012 to the Olympic Games for American television.

Other participations

Games Role NOC As
Other USA Dick Ebersol

Special Notes