Forget NFL players rumbling about the risks they’d face — and compensation they’d deserve — if they had to play two extra games in an expanded 18-game NFL season. Here’s who really stands to be blind-sided: the International Olympic Committee, specifically when it comes to its U.S. TV rights fee for its 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. About 3,800 miles separate the NFL’s Park Avenue offices and the IOC’s Lausanne, Switzerland, headquarters but the TV sports leviathans — who identify their big shows with Roman numerals — seem to be on a collision course. Consider that the 2014 Super Bowl, to be held in the New York area and aired on Fox, has three tentatively scheduled dates: Feb. 2, which would fit the normal schedule, Feb. 9 or Feb. 16. Sochi’s Games are locked in to start Feb. 7 and finish Feb. 23. Sochi’s U.S. TV rights, expected to be bundled with the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, are still up for grabs but any interested network — ESPN/ABC seems gung-ho — faces maybe the biggest variable ever in TV sports: Will a Super Bowl — in New York, no less — land amid the snowboarding and skiing. Source: USA Today
