One of Australia’s longest serving on-air talents has officially defected from Seven to a rival broadcaster ahead of the Paris Olympic Games, ending a four-decade long tradition.
Australia will send its third largest team ever to an Olympics after 460 names were confirmed on the plane to Paris.
Security, anti-doping issues and the water quality of the famous Seine River, which is due to host two events, remain concerns for the games.
There is just over a fortnight to go before a logistically challenging opening ceremony.
McAvaney ended his tradition of commentating the Olympics for Seven after the channel lost out on broadcast rights following a bidding war with Channel Nine last year.
However, the commentating hero will not be part of rival Nine’s Olympics coverage and will be covering radio commentary for the ABC instead.
McAvaney will be behind the mic calling the athletics portion of the games alongside Aussie Olympics stars like ex-sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Olympic gold medalist Sarah Ryan.
Sports broadcaster Bruce McAvaney has called every Olympics since Moscow in 1980 and will cover the Paris Games for ABC radio. Picture: Getty.
“I’ve always thought the Olympics was the ultimate event for an Australian broadcaster,” McAvaney said in a statement Monday.
“To be given this opportunity by the ABC means a great deal to me.”
Regarded as “the voice of footy” for his work calling the AFL, the 71-year-old earlier retired from commentating football in 2021 but continues to host select events, including last year’s Women’s FIFA World Cup.
Perhaps most memorably, McAvaney covered Cathy Freeman’s iconic gold medal run in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics and became part of the fabric of the country’s sporting history.
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Nine has pinned its revenue hopes on its expensive Olympics coverage after bidding $305 million for broadcast rights. Picture: Nine
The ABC decision salvages McAvaney’s remarkable forty-year run commentating every Summer Olympic Games from the Soviet-era Moscow games in 1980 to the most recent Tokyo games in 2021.
Nine maintains exclusive broadcasting rights to the Games and has promised wall-to-wall two viewing on 24-hour free-to-air channels as well as comprehensive streaming coverage.
The network paid about $305 million last year to secure the exclusive rights to broadcast the next five Summer and Winter Olympic Games on its Nine Networks and Stan assets, including the 2032 Brisbane Games.
A view of the Eiffel Tower as The Olympic Rings are displayed 50 days before the opening of the Olympic Games at Place Du Trocadero on June 07, 2024 in Paris, France. Picture by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images.
Nine also has the rights to the radio broadcast for the Olympics but agreed to sub-license rights to ABC radio in select regional markets.
Nevertheless, in a rare decision ABC will have to acknowledge Nine as “the Home of the Olympics” during licensed broadcasts, as well as in any promotional material.
The update comes as final preparations are underway in Paris for the first Olympics held in the French capital since the 1924 Games exactly a century ago.