NBC Sports Chief Dick Ebersol Resigns

NBC Sports Group Chairman Dick Ebersol, who helped launch "Saturday Night Live" then later established the network as the home of the Olympics, has resigned, according to a posting at nbcsports.com.

Ebersol told the NYTimes he could not come to an agreement on a new contract.

Richard Carrion, the IOC executive board member who negotiates U.S. rights, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Comcast CEO Brian Roberts confirmed the departure to him.

"He assured me they are 100 percent committed to the Olympics and the rights process," Carrion said.

Ebersol's decision comes several months after Comcast's takeover of NBC Universal. Earlier this year Comcast named Ebersol to run the NBC Sports Group, which consists of NBC Sports, the Golf Channel, Versus and Comcast’s regional sports networks.

Mark Lazarus, president of the NBC Sports Cable Group, will replace Ebersol, according to The New York Times.

NBC has broadcast every Summer Olympics since 1988 and every Winter Games since 2002. But Ebersol said he will not attend the June auction in Lausanne, Switzerland, that will determine who acquires the rights the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1975, as NBC's director of weekend late night programming, Ebersol and Lorne Michaels conceived and developed "Saturday Night Live." Ebersol returned to the network as president of NBC Sports in 1989.

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