NBC Sports

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 3:40pm on Thursday, June 4th, 2009

The NBC Sports show "Football Night in America" has added former NFL head coach Tony Dungy and former player Rodney Harrison as analysts for the 2009-2010 season. Dungy coached the Indianapolis Colts, while Harrison was a safety with the New England Patriots. The show has dropped ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis.

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 3:12pm on Monday, February 2nd, 2009

On February 1, 2009, when Super Bowl XLII was played, the Hollywood Reporter reported that NBC Sports pulled in $206 million on Super Bowl ads:

"NBC Sports scored a major victory with its record $206 million in ad revenue from Sunday's Super Bowl game.

It also brought in $261 million, also a record, for the full day including the pre- and postgame shows.

That's nothing to sniff at, considering that the ad economy -- even for the most-watched television day of the year -- tanked in a major way soon after NBC Sports finished the Beijing Olympics.

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and NBC Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol hailed the sales efforts, which under NBC Sports ad sales chief Seth Winter had worked last spring and early summer to bring in the majority of the sales. NBC reported selling 85% of its Super Bowl inventory by Labor Day, which is also noteworthy considering it had to sell the Beijing Olympics during that period as well."

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:41pm on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

On January 12, 2009, CNN Money reported that advertisers are still buying Super Bowl TV ads from NBC Sports (at a cost of $3 million for 30 seconds):

Despite record prices, a grinding recession and the absence of two big advertisers this year, NBC says it's having no problem filling spots for Super Bowl XLIII.

The network has sold about 90% of its 67 spots for the championship game scheduled for Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., according to NBC spokesman Brian Walker.

Walker said advertising is "on pace or ahead of past Super Bowls," adding that NBC is "in active negotiations with about a dozen potential advertisers."

FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) will not be buying spots this year. FedEx blamed the economy, while GM said the timing was just wrong.

NBC is charging, on average, $3 million for a 30-second spot. That's more than the $2.7 million average price for Super Bowl XLII in 2008, when the New York Giants' narrow victory over the New England Patriots was broadcast by Fox of News Corp (NWSA).

The average price of a 30-second spot crossed the $1 million mark in 1995 and passed $2 million in 2000, according to TN'S Media Intelligence.