If everything goes according to plan for NBC Universal, Americans will be abuzz about the Olympic performances by Simone Biles and Gabby Thomas over the next few weeks.
Official opening of the Tokyo Olympics, a year delayed, is now possible with NBC’s telecast on July 23 — live in the morning and in primetime.
In Japan, the Olympics are rife with negative vibes and there is a COVID-19 emergency. Most Japanese citizens have not been vaccinated against the virus, and many wish that the Olympics were cancelled. The majority of events will take place in empty venues. After a positive marijuana test, Sha’Carri Richardson, a star sprinter, was expelled from the U.S. team. The U.S. men’s basketball team also suffered embarrassing exhibition losses against Australia and Nigeria.
NBC hopes that once the competition starts, a COVID-weary United States will embrace the Games.
Molly Solomon, executive producer for NBC’s Olympics coverage, stated that “I believe people want a shared experience after everything we’ve gone through.”
NBC will not be held responsible if you miss any of the coverage. There will be more than 7,000 hours coverage of the Olympics on NBC and cable outlets like USA, NBCSN and NBCOlympics.com as well as the Peacock streaming service on Twitch and Snap.
It is hard to predict the length of COVID’s shadow.
It’s difficult to believe that NBC Universal, which will pay $7.75 billion for the Olympics broadcast between 2022-2032, did not give the go-ahead to the International Olympic Committee. Mike Wise did not exempt NBC from his criticisms of it in a Washington Post column this Week.
Solomon responded to questions about the issue by saying, “If there’s an Olympic Games, as the American broadcaster we’re going be here to cover the stories of those games.”
