NBC Sports

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NBC Sports
Industry Television
Genre sports
Founded 1946
Headquarters Stamford, Connecticut
Key people Mark Lazarus
Parent NBC Sports Group
Website NBCSports.com

NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, and the Triple Crown, among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of a majority stake in NBC Universal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.

Contents

History [edit]

Early years [edit]

Main article: History of NBC Sports

2000s [edit]

In 2000, NBC declined to renew its broadcast agreement with Major League Baseball. In 2002, it was additionally outbid by ESPN and ABC for the NBA's next broadcast deal, ending the league's twelve-year run on NBC.

During this era, NBC experimented with broadcasting emerging sports. In 2001, the network partnered with the World Wrestling Federation to establish the XFL—a new football league which introduced modified rules and debuted to tremendous, but short-lived fanfare, only lasting one season. In 2003, NBC obtained the broadcast rights and a minority interest in the Arena Football League. The network televised weekly games on a regional basis, as well as the entire playoffs. The deal lasted four years, after which the league and NBC parted ways.

Beginning with the 1999 Pennzoil 400, NBC began its foray into NASCAR. NBC, along with Fox, FX, and TNT, obtained the broadcast rights of the top two series in a six-year deal, beginning in 2001. NBC televised the second half of the season and alternated coverage of the Daytona 500 with Fox. NBC announced in December 2005 that it would not renew its agreement. In 2001, NBC obtained the broadcast rights to horse racing's Triple Crown in a five-year deal.

In 2004, NBC reached a broadcast agreement with the NHL. The revenue-sharing deal called for the two sides to split advertising revenue after the network recouped expenses. NBC televised regular season games at first on Saturday afternoons before moving the telecast to Sundays, Saturday and Sunday afternoon playoff games, and up to five games of the Stanley Cup Final. Additionally in 2008, NBC broadcast the first Winter Classic, an outdoor NHL game played on New Year's Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium, a success in attendance and television ratings. The following year's Winter Classic would become the most-watched regular season game in 34 years.[1] In addition to this regular season success, Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final was watched by an average of 8 million viewers, the most for an NHL game in 36 years.[2]

The NFL also returned to NBC in 2006 after an eight-year hiatus, broadcasting the league's new flagship Sunday Night Football game, along with select post-season games and Super Bowls XLIII XLVI and XLIX

2010s [edit]

2011: Comcast merger, NBC Sports Network, and move to Connecticut [edit]

Main article: NBC Sports Network

In January 2011, Comcast closed its acquisition of a majority share in NBC Universal. As a result of the merger, the operations of Comcast's existing sports networks, such as Golf Channel and Versus, were merged into an entity known as the NBC Sports Group. NBC Sports' senior vice president Mike McCarley additionally became Golf Channel's new head.[3] NBC Sports' golf production unit was merged with Golf Channel, along with NBC's on-air staff, and that unit is now known under the branding of Golf Channel on NBC.[4]

The merger also helped influence an extension of NBC Sports' contract with the NHL; the 10-year deal valued at close to $2 billion dollars covers rights for both NBC and Versus, introduces a new primetime "Black Friday" game, and national coverage for every game in the Stanley Cup playoffs.[5]

On July 3, 2011, ESPN obtained the exclusive broadcast rights of Wimbledon, in a 12-year deal. NBC had televised The Championships since 1969.[6]

On August 10, 2011, NBC Sports also announced a new three-year broadcasting contract with Major League Soccer to produce games for the 2012 season on NBC and the NBC Sports Network. There will be 2 regular season games, 2 playoff games, and 2 national team matches on NBC and 38 regular season games, 3 playoff games, and 2 national team matches on the NBC Sports Network.[7] On October 28, 2012, NBC Sports also announced a three-year, $250 million deal to air Premier League soccer in English (primarily on NBC Sports Network) and Spanish (on Telemundo and Mun2) beginning in the 2013–14 season, replacing ESPN and Fox Soccer.[8]

On October 15, 2012, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired broadcast rights to the Formula One World Championship (formerly held by Speed and Fox Sports) in a four-year deal with the series. The majority of its coverage (including much of the season, along with qualifying and practice sessions) will air on NBC Sports Network, while NBC will air the Monaco Grand Prix, Canadian Grand Prix and the final two races of the season, which include the United States Grand Prix. All races will also be streamed online and through the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile app.[9][10][11]

On March 18, 2013, nearly all operations for NBC Sports and the NBC Sports Network will be based out of a purpose-built facility in Stamford, Connecticut, a move mainly made to take advantage of tax credits given by the state of Connecticut which NBC has taken advantage of previously with the daytime talk shows of their sister broadcast syndication division.[12] Only Football Night in America will remain based in New York, at Studio 8G in Rockefeller Center

Olympics [edit]

Main article: Olympics on NBC

In 1964, NBC televised the Summer Olympics in Tokyo; in 1972, NBC televised the Winter Games for the first time. 1980 would prove to be a stinging disappointment for the network. After contentious negotiations, NBC won the broadcast rights to the Games in Moscow. After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the United States and 64 other countries boycotted. NBC substantially scaled back its coverage and lost heavily in advertising revenue. In 1988, NBC televised the Summer Olympics in Seoul. Since then, it has become “America’s Olympic Network,” televising every Summer Olympic Games since Seoul, as well as the Winter Games in 2002, 2006, and 2010. NBC has aired 12 Summer and Winter Olympics, more than any other network and the Games have become an integral part of the network. In 1998, Ebersol was named president of NBC Sports and Olympics. Recently, the 2010 Games in Vancouver were watched by a total of 190 million viewers,[13] including 27.6 million viewers of the Gold Medal Game in men’s hockey.[14]

Graphics [edit]

1999–2006 [edit]

NBC Sports first switched to digital on-screen graphics in 1995, although in a very limited, text based form. In 1999, NBC rolled out their first modern graphics package. The graphics were transparent black rectangles, with 3D gold bars on top and bottom, with blue accents for most sports (green for golf, purple for Wimbledon, and orange for the tennis French Open). Interestingly, scoreboxes were still not permanent, and they disappeared during plays. In 2002, the graphics were modified. They were changed to rounded edged, and the transparent color was changed from black to the color of the accents, which also replaced gold as the border color. The graphics still had no animation and the scoreboxes still were not permanent until 2005, when college football and hockey finally adopted scorebars, which didn't match the other graphics.

2006–2011 [edit]

In 2006, with the acquisition of Sunday Night Football, NBC launched a new look for its sports operation primarily designed by Troika Design Group. Graphics for most major featured a predominantly dark and metallic look with an increased use of animation, while most other sports utilized a separate design with grey and yellow graphics. At Super Bowl XLIII, a refreshed version of the package was introduced, featuring a more vibrant and streamlined appearance.

Beginning in September 2011, the newly-acquired Versus began to use these graphics in preparation for its re-launch as the NBC Sports Network in 2012, and began to adopt the new 2012 design on hockey games near the end of December.

2012–present [edit]

Alongside the launch of the NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012, NBC Sports also launched a comprehensive redesign of its on-air appearance, including a new graphics design built around the NBC peacock, and an updated logo for the division as a whole. The new design was also intended to be modular; allowing it to be expanded for use in larger events across multiple networks, such as the Super Bowl or the Olympic Games. Unlike previous years, NBC also used much of this new design during the 2012 Summer Olympics as opposed to creating a dedicated graphics package specific to the games.[15]

The new on-screen graphic design, again designed by Troika, predominantly uses a crystallized look with graphics either using a dark steel-blue color scheme or a team's colors, accented with brightly colored particles. Most lower-thirds utilize a horizontal "pane" layout. Scoreboards also incorporate an animation for NBC peacock when a team scores. While most sports now utilize a scoreboard appearing in the top-center of the screen without any shading, football still utilizes a similar layout to the previous NBC package.

Programs throughout the years [edit]

Current programs [edit]

Former programs [edit]

Former logo for NBC Sports, used from 1989 through 2011.

Notable personalities [edit]

Present [edit]

Play-by-play [edit]

Analysts [edit]

Reporters [edit]

Studio hosts [edit]

Former [edit]

Play-by-play [edit]

Analysts [edit]

Reporters [edit]

Studio hosts [edit]

Telemundo personalities [edit]

Presidents & Chairmen [edit]

Main competitors [edit]

NBC Sports Group [edit]

NBC Sports Group
Industry Television
Predecessor(s) Comcast Sports Group
Headquarters New York City
Key people Mark Lazarus, chair
Website NBCSportsGroupPressBox.com

After Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, its existing sports channels (operated as part of a unit known as the Comcast Sports Group)—including the regional sports network chain Comcast SportsNet, Versus, and Golf Channel, were transferred into a new unit known as the NBC Sports Group; encompassing all of NBC Sports' media properties, along with other properties such as the recently established NBC Sports Radio. Mark Lazarus, formerly the head of Turner Entertainment Group, serves as the head of the NBC Sports Group cable networks.[22]

Units [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ ‘Winter Classic” Most Viewed Regular Season NHL Game in 34 Years,’ TVBytheNumbers, January 13, 2009
  2. ^ Game 7 most watched in 36 years
  3. ^ Renyolds, Mike. "McCarley To Head Golf Channel, Davis Out at Versus in NBC Sports Group Reorg: Sources". Multichannel News. Retrieved February 2, 2011. 
  4. ^ Williams, Jim. "Jim Williams: Gold coverage has new look". Washington Examiner. 
  5. ^ AP (April 19, 2011). "NHL reaches new television deal to remain on NBC, Versus". SI.com. Retrieved April 19, 2011. 
  6. ^ ESPNLosAngeles.com (July 5, 2011). "ESPN acquires exclusive Wimbledon rights". ESPNLosAngeles.com. Retrieved July 5, 2011. 
  7. ^ Goal Blogs, New York Times (August 10, 2011). "MLS and NBC Sports announce new TV deal". NYTimes.com. Retrieved August 10, 2011. 
  8. ^ "NBC wins $250m rights to broadcast English Premier League in US". The Associated Press. Retrieved October 29, 2012. 
  9. ^ Fryer, Jenna. "NBC Sports Group gets US rights to Formula One". AP. 
  10. ^ "SPEED coverage of Formula One comes to an end in 2012". Motorsport.com. Retrieved October 13, 2012. 
  11. ^ "Formula 1 lands four-year deal with NBC". Racer. Retrieved October 16, 2012. 
  12. ^ Heistand, Michael (13 March 2013). "NBC to air MLS marathon in new digs". USA Today. Retrieved 13 March 2013. 
  13. ^ "NBC's Final Medal Count: 190 Million Olympic Viewers". Multichannel News. March 1, 2010. 
  14. ^ "Olympic Hockey Gold Medal Game Viewed by Most in U.S. Since ’80". Business Week. March 1, 2010. 
  15. ^ "NBC Sports Network Off and Running With New Graphics Package". SportsVideoGroup. Retrieved June 26, 2012. 
  16. ^ NBC did not provide live event coverage due to the US-led boycott.
  17. ^ Brown, Les (July 19, 1979). "CBS Alumni Reunite at NBC's Top". The New York Times. 
  18. ^ Craig, Jack (June 30, 1991). "Watson got results, not publicity". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 15, 2012. 
  19. ^ Press Release (October 17, 2012). "Former Chairman of NBC Sports Group Dick Ebersol, USOC CMO Lisa Baird to be Honored at 2012 PromaxBDA Sports Marketing Summit & Awards". Yahoo. Retrieved November 15, 2012. 
  20. ^ "PLUS: TELEVISION SPORTS; New President Named at NBC". New York Times. Retrieved November 15, 2012. 
  21. ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "Post-Merger NBC Sports Group Unveils Executive Team". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 15, 2012. 
  22. ^ Weinstein, Joshua L. (February 2, 2011). "Mark Lazarus to Head NBC Sports Group's Executive Team". The Wrap. Retrieved October 6, 2012. 

External links [edit]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NBC_Sports&oldid=553556165"