NBC will not send announcers to Beijing for Winter Games
JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer
Posted:
Updated:
NBC will not be sending its announcers and most hosts to the Beijing Olympics due to continued concerns about rising COVID-19 cases worldwide and China’s strict policy about those who test positive.
It will be the second straight Games for which the broadcast teams will work mostly out of NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, rather than the host city.
“Something significant has changed virtually every day for the last three months, forcing us to adjust our plan numerous times. And I expect that to continue as well as the challenge of doing the Olympics,” said Molly Solomon, the head of NBC’s Olympics production unit.
“With COVID’s changing conditions and China’s zero-tolerance policy, it’s just added a layer of complexity to all of this, so we need to make sure we can provide the same quality experience to the American viewers. That’s why we are split between the two cities.”
NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes said in a phone interview the network no longer plans to send announcing teams for Alpine skiing, figure skating and snowboarding to China. Those had been among the handful of announcers expected to travel, but NBC’s plans changed over the past couple of weeks.
“Our plans will continue to evolve based on the conditions, and we’re going to stay flexible as we move through this,” Hughes said.
NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel is one of 250 people the network already has in Beijing. Most of those are technical staff.
“We are in a closed loop. It is restrictive access, but it does allow us to access the broadcast center and venues,” he said.
Olympic athletes, media and workers will be cut off from the rest of China during the Games, with the only places they can go being competition venues, their accommodations and transportation between the two. China plans to isolate anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 for at least two days, pending a negative result. The country also has a mandatory 21-day isolation period for anyone entering the country who isn’t vaccinated.
USA Today was first to report on NBC’s decision.
Most of NBC’s announcers were stateside for the Summer Games, but the marquee sports of track and field, swimming and gymnastics had announcers in Tokyo.
NBC is expected to be transparent about the fact that its announcers are not onsite.
Prime-time host Mike Tirico will anchor coverage from Beijing from Feb. 3-10 before flying to Los Angeles to host the next three days and the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl. NBC said it would determine over Super Bowl weekend where Tirico would be based for the final week of the Games.
Some reporters from NBC’s sports and news divisions will be based in Beijing during the Games. With Beijing 13 hours ahead of Connecticut, most announcers will be up at night calling the action.
NBC has called action remotely for some sports during past Olympics, including basketball and hockey. Remote coverage became common on all networks during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in 2020 and early last year when fans were not allowed in many arenas and stadiums.
Joshua Paul
It's a long list of rejections from cities across Europe. Oslo and Stockholm are the two high-profile cities that pulled out during the bidding process. Krakow, Poland, and Lviv, Ukraine, also withdrew bids.
Two other areas with potentially strong bids — St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Munich — were rejected by the public in voter referendums. The German rejection was a stinging blow to Bach, who is from Germany. It's also notable that the IOC headquarters are in Switzerland.
Oslo and Stockholm, probably regarded as the preferred venues as the IOC attempted to return the Olympics to traditional European winter venues, pulled out because of costs and politics.
Norwegian and IOC officials also traded public barbs in 2014 about their dissatisfaction with each other.
Details of the IOC's demands upon bid cities for its members — including a cocktail reception with the King of Norway, use of exclusive road lanes, and specific requests for fruit and cakes in hotel rooms — were leaked, and described as “pompousness” by one lawmaker.
A senior IOC official retorted the decision to withdraw Oslo was based on “half-truths and factual inaccuracies.”
Bach acknowledged at the time in a 2014 interview that the Winter Olympics were a tough sell.
“The number of candidates for winter is already very limited by geography,” he said. “Also we can’t forget that this is a challenging time with regard to the world economy.”
Joshua Paul
It's a long list of rejections from cities across Europe. Oslo and Stockholm are the two high-profile cities that pulled out during the bidding process. Krakow, Poland, and Lviv, Ukraine, also withdrew bids.
Two other areas with potentially strong bids — St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Munich — were rejected by the public in voter referendums. The German rejection was a stinging blow to Bach, who is from Germany. It's also notable that the IOC headquarters are in Switzerland.
Oslo and Stockholm, probably regarded as the preferred venues as the IOC attempted to return the Olympics to traditional European winter venues, pulled out because of costs and politics.
Norwegian and IOC officials also traded public barbs in 2014 about their dissatisfaction with each other.
Details of the IOC's demands upon bid cities for its members — including a cocktail reception with the King of Norway, use of exclusive road lanes, and specific requests for fruit and cakes in hotel rooms — were leaked, and described as “pompousness” by one lawmaker.
A senior IOC official retorted the decision to withdraw Oslo was based on “half-truths and factual inaccuracies.”
Bach acknowledged at the time in a 2014 interview that the Winter Olympics were a tough sell.
“The number of candidates for winter is already very limited by geography,” he said. “Also we can’t forget that this is a challenging time with regard to the world economy.”
The choice for the IOC members came down to two authoritarian governments that did not require any public vote, and also had few constraints on spending: Beijing and Almaty.
Beijing spent more than $40 billion on the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In promoting their proposals, organizers in Almaty at the time said 79% supported the bid. Beijing said 94.8% in China were in favor.
Almaty tried to win the vote, reminding that it was a winter sports city surrounded by mountains and natural snow. It was a dig at Beijing, which has no winter sports tradition and little natural snow in the areas picked for skiing.
Beijing and some IOC members countered that skiers actually prefer artificial snow. The IOC also saw Beijing as a huge winter-sports business opportunity.
Beijing won by four votes, which was described as much closer than expected, in a second attempt using paper ballots. A first attempt at electronic voting was scrapped citing technical issues.
IOC members chose what they believed to be the less risky option, which has not turned out that way.
“It really is a safe choice,” IOC President Bach said at the time. “We know China will deliver on its promises.”
The choice for the IOC members came down to two authoritarian governments that did not require any public vote, and also had few constraints on spending: Beijing and Almaty.
Beijing spent more than $40 billion on the 2008 Summer Olympics.
In promoting their proposals, organizers in Almaty at the time said 79% supported the bid. Beijing said 94.8% in China were in favor.
Almaty tried to win the vote, reminding that it was a winter sports city surrounded by mountains and natural snow. It was a dig at Beijing, which has no winter sports tradition and little natural snow in the areas picked for skiing.
Beijing and some IOC members countered that skiers actually prefer artificial snow. The IOC also saw Beijing as a huge winter-sports business opportunity.
Beijing won by four votes, which was described as much closer than expected, in a second attempt using paper ballots. A first attempt at electronic voting was scrapped citing technical issues.
IOC members chose what they believed to be the less risky option, which has not turned out that way.
“It really is a safe choice,” IOC President Bach said at the time. “We know China will deliver on its promises.”
Getting down to two candidates — neither the top choices — shocked the IOC. It was part of the reason that the IOC no longer goes through a long bid process to pick host cities. Bach said at the time that the bid process produced too many “losers."
Moreover, it was embarrassing for the IOC to explain why voters turned down holding the Olympics — particularly the smaller Winter Games. The bid process was also soiled by scandals surrounding the awarding of the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, in which IOC member were allegedly bribed for their votes.
The bidding for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games was also hit by scandal.
Under the IOC's new process of choosing venues, the approximately 100 IOC members no longer vote. The choice is made by the leadership headed by Bach. The IOC has already chosen venues for the Olympics through 2032.
They are: 2024 Paris; 2026 Milan-Cortina, Italy; 2028 Los Angeles; 2032 Brisbane, Australia. The only open slot is the 2030 Winter Olympics, in which Sapporo, Japan, seems to be the leading candidate. The IOC has not indicated when that choice will be made.
Bullit Marquez
Getting down to two candidates — neither the top choices — shocked the IOC. It was part of the reason that the IOC no longer goes through a long bid process to pick host cities. Bach said at the time that the bid process produced too many “losers."
Moreover, it was embarrassing for the IOC to explain why voters turned down holding the Olympics — particularly the smaller Winter Games. The bid process was also soiled by scandals surrounding the awarding of the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, in which IOC member were allegedly bribed for their votes.
The bidding for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games was also hit by scandal.
Under the IOC's new process of choosing venues, the approximately 100 IOC members no longer vote. The choice is made by the leadership headed by Bach. The IOC has already chosen venues for the Olympics through 2032.
They are: 2024 Paris; 2026 Milan-Cortina, Italy; 2028 Los Angeles; 2032 Brisbane, Australia. The only open slot is the 2030 Winter Olympics, in which Sapporo, Japan, seems to be the leading candidate. The IOC has not indicated when that choice will be made.
A person wearing a face shield walks past the Olympic rings inside the main media center at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip
A person wearing a face shield walks past the Olympic rings inside the main media center at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
