NBC Will Not Send Announcers to the Winter Olympics
Image Courtesy of NBC 4 Columbus
By Zachary Lichter
On January 19, 2022, NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes announced that NBC would not be sending their announcers to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics due to the rise of Covid-19 cases globally and China’s strict no-tolerance policy. This is the second Olympic Games where NBC Sports will have most of their announcers call the games from the NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut instead of sending some announcers to the host city. NBC’s prime-time host Mike Tirico will be the only announcer going to Beijing. He will be there from February 3-10, and he will then fly to Los Angeles to cover Super Bowl LVI. Tirico will most likely be hosting the Winter Olympics in Stamford because he will not go back to Beijing.
Last summer, NBC had most of their announcers call the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo remotely except for gymnastics, swimming, and track and field due to the rise of global coronavirus cases among the athletes. Tirico and daytime host Rebecca Lowe made the trip to Tokyo, and they were able to do their broadcasts at the International Broadcast Center. Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Washington, D.C., so if the announcers cover a hockey game at 3:00 pm in Beijing, it would be 2:00 am in Stamford, which will be the situation for all of the announcers covering the Winter Olympics for NBC.
“The energy from the announcers will be different, and that could affect the way that the games are discussed,” said junior media and communications major and drama minor Katherine Chmielewski. “It is very challenging to be engaged in and to report on something when it is happening through a screen and not in front of you. For the reporters whose job is to be in person and have a front-row seat to everything, this could become another challenge in terms of giving the viewers a feel of being there with the athletes.”
China’s “no tolerance policy” includes isolating anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 for at least two days with a pending negative result. The country also has a 21-day isolation period for anyone who enters the country unvaccinated. If NBC decided to send their announcers to Beijing, the only two places they would be allowed to go are the hotel and the competition venue. With announcers planning to go remote, the challenge of doing interviews with the athletes will be a lot harder.
“Making time for interviews to be conducted that align with the reporters’ schedules can be difficult, especially when you consider the thirteen-hour difference in time,” Chmielewski said. “A lot of planning must go into the athletes’ schedules, and they cannot afford to lose time because of bad internet or technical delays. If an interview is not possible, then it will not happen, and getting that coverage is crucial for these reporters.”
The coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics will be on NBC networks beginning on February 3 at 8:00 pm EST and streaming live on Peacock.
