This morning, the Today show kicked off its Beijing Olympics coverage, though it's unclear whether this counts toward NBC Universal's 3,600 hours of Games coverage (we're guessing no). Matt Lauer is over there talking about the Great Wall while other NBC types are giving us a tour of the city's $43 billion facelift. Perfect timing, then, for a LAT profile of Jim Bell, Today's executive producer who has to find the right mix of creampuff stories about Olympics competitors and China's ignoring the promises it made to get the 2008 Games there. (So far, Today has done an adamant job of not reporting on China's pollution problem.)

But we're not just seeing an explanation of how 30 Rock is going to handle reporting from Beijing (while parent company GE does billions in business with China) — we're seeing a very carefully orchestrated plan to mold Bell into the inevitable leader of NBC Sports.

Bell has been with Today for three years, making him the longest-serving EP there since Jeff Zucker (eight years), who now heads NBC Uni. That Today is a proving ground for higher roles inside NBC, then, is no secret.

Also no secret: That NBC Sports' current chief, Dick Ebersol, is expected to exit his role after the Olympics wraps up. And the expected candidate to succeed Ebersol? A one Jim Bell.

So the favorable LAT's profile of Bell, while not out of place as we gear up for the Olympic Games, should be viewed as just one leg of his audition for the NBC Sports gig. That is, of course, if the audition process is even still going on.

[Photo: NYT]