By Harvey Hoffman
The Tokyo Olympics were delayed from last summer because of COVID-19 and are scheduled to begin in July.
However, Japan is seeing a rise in cases and has a low vaccination rate. Polling shows some resistance to proceeding with the games, but the money involved appears to be a major factor in staging them regardless.
NBC has the broadcast rights under a nearly $4.4 billion deal signed in 2011 with the IOC that took the network through the 2020 games (extended to 2021, obviously).
A reported $7.7 billion extension keeps the Olympics on NBC through 2032. NBC plans a reported 7,000 hours of TV and streaming coverage of the Tokyo games.
