2004 Olympics: Barry Horn

Ebersol hunkered in bunker with two disaster plans ready

07:13 PM CDT on Saturday, August 28, 2004

On the other end of the phone, 6,000 miles and eight time zones away, Dick Ebersol excused himself to find a piece of wood. It was 8:30 p.m. in Athens, and another day at the Olympics was almost in the books.

Only today remained between Ebersol and the finish line.

Ebersol is the chairman of NBC Olympics. The Athens Games are being played on his watch. Everything Americans have seen from Greece over the last 16 days, they've seen with his approval.

NBC's shows were his personal babies. The folks running the cable programming exhale and inhale to his pleasure.

"Knock wood," Ebersol said, returning to the conversation Saturday, "we planned and planned and never had to use it. "

"It" was a carefully constructed disaster plan NBC had in place just in case. "It" was two years in the planning and implementing.

"We worked hard to be ready," he said. "One more day and we will happily say we were ready for nothing."

Turns out NBC had not one but at least two ways to stay on the air if anything happened to the Greek power grid. In addition to its own secondary generator at the International Broadcast Center – the electronic hub of the Games – the network planted equipment around Athens.

Generators, reporters, cameras and satellite trucks have been deployed throughout residential neighborhoods in the Greek capital to wait and watch.

Ebersol, who also oversees every other facet of NBC Sports, went to Athens with additional responsibility. He would be the executive in charge of the network's news product should "it" happen.

To that end, Ebersol hunkered down in the IBC at 11 a.m. on Aug. 13, the day of the opening ceremony. He hasn't left since.

Fresh air has come only from an outdoor loading dock not far from his office, well inside the perimeter of the closely guarded IBC compound.

Ebersol's office came complete with queen-size bed, toilet and shower.

"I am the only full-time resident of the IBC," he said. "I know I have the only shower in the building."

Like Americans at home, everything Ebersol has seen relating to the Athens Olympics, he has seen on a television screen.

Unlike most Americans, Ebersol has 25 TV monitors in his office/home.

On one wall, five TV monitors spit out the world feed of the Games. On a second wall, 20 monitors display in-house broadcasting from the various venues.

For the record, Ebersol has been working either in his office or in the control room 20 hours a day, sleeping only from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Athens time.

His office/home is no more than a 20-second jog from NBC's two primary studios.

Ebersol says the decision to work and live in the same room was made two years ago for two reasons.

First was the virtual round-the-clock broadcasting by NBC and its cable affiliates.

"The larger one, however, was the news responsibility," he said. "I didn't want to be caught out of the building with the city sealed off in case something happened."

To that end, Ebersol made sure he always had company. One of NBC's primary anchors is always on standby duty, nearby.

"I've never been so happy to have prepared so long for something that hasn't happened," Ebersol said. "It's a great feeling."

E-mail bhorn@dallasnews.com