NBC Universal Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol said he was angry with the U.S. Olympic Committee during an opening panel that kicked off the 2009 SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily FSA Sports Media & Technology Conference. He said the organization was wrong to hire an executive search firm to find a new CEO and instead should have funneled that money into supporting athletes or covering travel for its executives to international sports meetings and events.

“My anger is not directed at the Olympic movement,” Ebersol said. “It’s not directed at the [International Olympic Committee]. I find both of them to be very responsible partners. Over the last decade, I find that the USOC has been a rudderless ship.”

He said there were only four or five people in the United States with the job description to become the USOC’s new CEO and called on the USOC to interview people who run “large, grassroots sports” organizations for the job.

“Right away you’d get someone who understands grassroots sports in this country,” he said. “Get them instead of the guy who ran a washing-machine company for the last three years or an insurance executive who had a temper problem.”

He said the same errors are repeated over and over and that his position was rooted not in his role at NBC as an Olympic rights holder but in his passion for the Olympics, which dates to his time as a researcher at ABC.

The comments about the USOC were only a small piece of a wide-ranging one-on-one interview. Among the other highlights:

On the Comcast and NBC deal that is currently being negotiated, Ebersol said he had to be careful because talks were ongoing. However, he said, “It’s clear both companies would like very much to be together. There are still miles to travel down the highway, but for a sweet, innocent, 62-year-old boy from Connecticut, I’ve always quietly worshipped at the statue of the [subscription] fee. On that part of it, it has appeal to me—as a 62-year-old boy from Connecticut, not as a business executive being paid by NBC and GE.”

Ebersol anticipates strong viewership for the Vancouver Games and pointed to four “charismatic” American athletes as the reason why: skier Lindsey Vonn, speed skaters Apolo Anton Ohno and Shani Davis, and snowboarder Shaun White.

In discussing the networks’ ability to compete in the future, Ebersol said, “It’s clear the advertising marketplace cannot solely support big leagues on the network. There isn’t one of us who makes any money on the NFL, but we’re comfortable with that because the NFL is our beachfront property that allows us to show off our wares of all the other things we do as broadcasters. They are things that bind us much closer to our affiliates.”

Ebersol said that the sports story he’s watching most closely is the ongoing NFL labor negotiations. He said he expects next year to be an uncapped year.

Ebersol said that the sports story he’s watching most closely is the ongoing NFL labor negotiations. He said he expects next year to be an uncapped year.

“The biggest question is what happens in 2011,” he added. “That would be heartbreaking to anyone who cares about football. Obviously, it’s the most popular sport in the United States. It’s incredibly healthy on a lot of levels. It would just be really sad, and it would take away NBC’s highest-rated show.”

Ebersol said that the economy was beginning to turn around for broadcasters. He added, “The darkness has passed for those of us who deal in advertising. We are starting to see the people most affected by the darkness of the last year—plus, the autos, the financial services—these people are starting to come back. That’s key.”

Ebersol attributed the recent renaissance in television-sports ratings to a combination of several things, including the economy and the NFL’s scheduling success.

“People are much more reluctant to leave their home and go out and spend money. In the case of the NFL, in particular, Howard Katz, the league’s scheduler, [does a phenomenal job of] taking care of Fox and CBS and their doubleheader and the prime-time games for us and ESPN. Then the luck of the draw. I have been in this business for 40 years. I have never seen as many important games at 4 o’clock on Sunday or in prime time on Sunday or Monday that have gone down to the wire. It’s in excess of 60 percent. When you can hold that audience all the way through an entire game, that just helps the ratings.”