Dutch public broadcaster Nos is facing a shortage of cash to pay for broadcasting a number of high-profile sports events over the next few years – events which are seen as crucial to the Netherlands’s efforts to stage the 2028 Olympics, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.

The paper says cities are keen to stage European and world championships in a variety of events, without taking the cost of the television coverage into account. They hope boosting the Netherlands’ international sporting profile will boost the chance of winning the Olympic prize.
But the Nos claims it needs a budget of €6m between now and 2012 to cover events such as the world gymnatistic, cycling and table tennis championships, all of which are already on the sporting calendar.
Countries staging international tournaments are required to provide coverage of the event to participating nations free of charge, the paper says.
120 events
The Netherlands aims to stage 120 international sports events tetween 2012 and 2021, when the Olympic committee will decide on the 2028 host nation.
Nos head of sport Maarten Nooter told the paper he thought it odd that Dutch viewers are being asked to pay for events which are often not targeted at them. The Nos has an annual budget for sports broadcasts of €9m.
Nooter also told the paper he doubted the value of some of the events. ‘Will anyone know in 2021 that the Netherlands staged the 2011 world table tennis championships?’ he said.