If this week's deal that saw NBC retain the rights to broadcast the Olympics underlined one thing, it is that the Olympic Movement's main engine of growth post-London 2012 will be the BRICs.

This acronym, coined a decade ago by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, refers to the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, whose sheer scale and pace of growth has made them increasingly crucial to the world's economic wellbeing.

The Olympic Movement has already taken one bite at this particular cherry - in the 2005-08 Olympic quadrennium when the Summer Games were held in Beijing, where domestic Chinese sponsors were a big factor behind a 30 per cent advance in overall revenues to $5.45 billion (£3.32 billion) from $4.19 billion (£2.55 billion) in the previous four-year period culminating with the Athens Olympics.

The Movement derives its revenues from five main sources: broadcasting, the so-called TOP (The Olympic Partner) worldwide sponsorship programme, "domestic" sponsorship in the markets where the Games are being held, ticketing and licensing.

Broadcasting and sponsorship are by far the biggest of these income sources.

In the present quadrennium, concluding with London 2012, my calculations suggest that the Movement's growth rate should continue at a similar heady pace, with $7 billion (£4 billion) in revenues over the 2009-12 period by no means out of the question, in spite of the global economic crisis.

This time though, the main growth engine has been broadcasting, with income from that source set to soar by nearly 50 percent to something like $3.8 billion (£2.3 billion).

And while the Movement is starting to realise more value from developing broadcast markets, including the BRIC economies, the biggest broadcast contract is with the US rights holder.

It follows, therefore, that this eye-catching hike was only made possible by a substantial advance in the US - from $1.51 billion (£919 million) for the period covering the Turin Winter Olympics and the Beijing Games to $2.2 billion (£1.34 billion) for the quadrennium bracketing Vancouver and London.

Under the deal unveiled this week, NBC, whose bid was presented by President Mark Lazarus (pictured), is "only" going to be paying $2 billion (£1.2 billion) for the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games.


So, the Movement is going to have to look elsewhere for growth.

Happily, with both the 2014 and 2016 Olympics taking place in BRIC economies, BRIC-based sponsors - and, this time around, broadcasters - are set once again to step into the breach.

Sochi 2014 has already signed domestic sponsorship deals worth more than $1 billion (£609 million) – a remarkable sum for a Winter Games.

And, though still five years away, Rio 2016 has already generated $648 million (£395 million) from just two giant sponsorship deals, with Bradesco, a Brazilian bank, and a communications consortium of Embratel and Claro.

Gazing deeper into my five-ringed crystal ball, however, I don't think that this week's events signify that growth is no longer possible for the Olympics in the US.

For one thing, the latest $4.38 billion (£2.66 billion) deal runs through until the 2020 Olympics.

This means that the US broadcasting rights will generate nearly 20 per cent more for the Movement in the 2017-20 quadrennium than in the previous four years - and eight per cent more than in 2009-12).

Perhaps more importantly, however, this week's deal covers a period when, in my view, there is unlikely to be an Olympics staged on US soil.

Next time around, particularly if we end up with another four-Games deal through to 2028, I think it would, in stark contrast, be highly likely to include a US Olympics.

All else being equal, you would expect this to boost the value of the next US broadcasting deal.

Of course, such is the pace of technological innovation that the business of the Olympics might have been transformed beyond all recognition by then.

But you see the point that I am making.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 World Cup. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938