NBC Sports to Televise Lots of Swimming Over the Next Four Years

Call it the Michael Phelps effect. Now that swimming brought in ratings gold for the first eight days of the Olympics, NBC wants to keep the sport in the spotlight. I linked to a story by the Associated Press about this earlier today. Now here’s the triumphant press release from NBC that says it picked up the rights to show the World Swimming Championships next year as well as the National Championships leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

NBC TO BROADCAST SWIMMING WORLD & NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Deal Includes 2009 World Championships
Plus 2009, ‘10, ‘11 National Championships

1st Major Swimming Announcement Following Phelps’ Phenomenal Olympics – Phelps to Swim Through 2012

 BEIJING – August 21, 2008 – On the heels of the most memorable Olympic swimming competition in history, in which Michael Phelps won an unprecedented eight gold medals, NBC Sports, in cooperation with USA Swimming, today announced an agreement for the most significant U.S. television package in the history of the sport. NBC Sports and Universal Sports will broadcast the 2009 World Swimming Championships from Rome and the 2009 USA Swimming National Championships (which will serve to qualify the U.S. team for the 2009 Worlds), as well as the National Championships in 2010 and 2011. The agreement is the first major announcement for the sport of swimming since the remarkable Beijing Olympic swimming competition that saw 20 new world records in the 32 morning finals. NBC already holds the broadcast rights to the 2012 U.S. Olympics Swimming Trials and 2012 London Olympic Games. The announcement was made today by Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics and Chuck Wielgus, Executive Director, USA Swimming.

Michael Phelps, who has long stated a goal of getting more exposure for the sport of swimming, said: "I've said for a long time that my most important goal was to leave swimming better than I found it and this move to network coverage on NBC of our major championships is a dream come true and a big step in that direction." 

Phelps has stated his intention to continue with competitive swimming through the 2012 London Olympics. When asked about swimming at the 2009 World Championships, he said, "My mom has told me that I better make the [2009 U.S. World Championships team], because she wants to go to Rome. I have the pressure from the mom, so I guess we have to get back into it and make that happen."

Ebersol said: "The whole world watched as Michael Phelps took his sport to a new level and introduced a generation of fans to swimming through his extraordinary achievements. His accomplishments transcend sports and, are in fact, a cultural phenomenon. We're greatly looking forward to following the next chapter in his career."

Wielgus said: "We're thrilled with our evolving partnership with NBC. Having NBC broadcast the 2009 FINA World Championships is a huge step forward for our sport."

NBC will broadcast weekend coverage from Rome on July 26 and Aug. 1-2, 2009 and will also air mid-week coverage on the newly-launched Universal Sports digital channel.

Led by its live primetime swimming coverage, NBC averaged 30.0 million average viewers, 13 percent ahead of Athens in 2004, through the first eight days of the Beijing Games as Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals captivated America. Phelps' achievements transcend his sport, inspiring his hometown Baltimore Ravens to broadcast his record-breaking race in Ravens Stadium following their preseason game, and attracting members of the U.S. Olympic basketball team to his races in the Water Cube on the Olympic Green in Beijing.