From the ‘good problem to have’ department, NBC Sports on Thursday announced how it plans to staff its on-air talent across Super Bowl, Olympics and NBA coverage in February.
NBC Sports voice Mike Tirico will call Super Bowl 60 on February 8 and then immediately afterward host primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics, NBC Sports announced Thursday. While Tirico worked both events the last time NBC carried them in 2022, he was serving as the lead studio host in both cases. The dual role figures to be more challenging this year, given the demands of play-by-play.
Tirico will miss the Opening Ceremony and the first night of competition at the Olympics as he prepares for the Super Bowl. Following Super Bowl Sunday, he is set to fly out to Milan the following day to begin his full-time role as Olympics host on Tuesday, February 10.
2022 was a bit different in more ways than one. The Olympics began a week before the Super Bowl, meaning that Tirico was able to host the Olympics on-site from Beijing for the first few nights before traveling stateside for the Super Bowl. But initial plans to have Tirico return to Beijing after the Super Bowl were abandoned, and he ultimately hosted the majority of the event from NBC’s Stamford, Conn., studios.
In 2018, Tirico was not part of NBC’s Super Bowl coverage and focused solely on the Winter Olympics from PyeongChang.
With Tirico on Super Bowl duty, NBC will have Maria Taylor host primetime coverage of the Olympics on the first night of competition. She will also host the Super Bowl pregame show the following day before traveling to Milan to serve as late night Olympic host beginning February 10.
As might go without saying, Tirico and Taylor will be off of NBC NBA coverage after February 1, when they will be part of the network’s debut week of “Sunday Night Basketball.” Noah Eagle and Ahmed Fareed will replace them as lead play-by-play voice and studio host, respectively, for NBA All-Star Weekend February 13-15 and “Sunday Night Basketball” the following week.
Eagle will also be part of NBC’s Super Bowl pregame show and Fareed will host daytime Olympics coverage on the first day of competition.
NBC is branding its February slate of the Super Bowl, Olympics and NBA All-Star Weekend as “Legendary February.” The last time the network carried all three properties in the same year was 1996, and that was a Summer Olympics year where none of the three took place in the same month.
