NBC Sports is the sports division of theNBC television network. Formerly "a service ofNBC News" (it was spun off as a standalone operating unit by 1977), it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including theOlympic Games, theNFL,Notre Dame football, thePGA Tour, theTriple Crown, and theFrench Open, among others. Assets currently include among othersGolf Channel andNBC Sports Regional Networks.
NBC Sports' history can be traced back to May 17, 1939, when experimental television station W2XBS inNew York City (which would eventually becomeWNBC-TV) televised an intercollegiate baseball game betweenColumbia andPrinceton.[1] That year, W2XBS would also televise a boxing match between former heavyweight championMax Baer andLou Nova atMadison Square Garden,[2] a doubleheader between theCincinnati Reds andBrooklyn Dodgers fromEbbets Field,[3] and a professional football game between thePhiladelphia Eagles and theBrooklyn Dodgers of theNational Football League.[4] All were firsts for the respective sports.
After the end ofWorld War II, sporting events were staples of the nascent NBC television network. NBC televised theArmy–Navy Game in1945, hailed by sports writers at the time as "The Game of the Century."[5] In 1946, theCavalcade of Sports, a primetime sports anthology program known mainly for its boxing matches, debuted on the network. NBC would televise boxing, usually on Friday nights, until it cancelled the program in1960. In1947, NBC televised Games 1 and 5 of theWorld Series in theNew York metropolitan area (CBS televised Games 3 and 4, while theDuMont Television Network televised Games 2, 6 and 7).
Beginning in1950, NBC Sports became the exclusive broadcaster of theWorld Series, a status that would last for26 consecutive years. In1957, NBC began televising theGame of the Week. Except for the1965 season, NBC would televise Saturday afternoon games for the next three decades. NBC expanded its sports lineup to include theNBA,college andprofessional football, as well as championship events. In 1952, NBC became the broadcast home of theRose Bowl; a relationship that lasted for 37 years until1988. For1954, NBC signed a one-year agreement to carry the Big Four ofCanadian football on Saturday afternoons.
In1955, NBC paid $100,000 to air theNFL Championship. An employee of NBC played a small part in "The Greatest Game Ever Played." During overtime of the1958 NFL Championship, NBC lost its feed fromYankee Stadium. A technician ran onto the field and stopped play long enough for the feed to be restored. The game was a watershed moment in the history of the NFL, establishing professional football as a nationally popular television property and beginning the upward surge of the league's popularity.
CBS would take over the exclusive broadcast rights to the NFL, including the Championship Game, in1964. Thefollowing year, NBC obtained the broadcast rights to the upstartAmerican Football League. In 1966, the two leagues agreed tomerge. As part of the merger, the two leagues' champions would play a World Championship Game, eventually renamed theSuper Bowl. Rather than award the broadcast rights of thegame to either CBS or NBC, NFL commissionerPete Rozelle decided to have both networks televise it. NBC commentatorsCurt Gowdy andPaul Christman called the game, while CBS produced the telecast that aired on both networks. In subsequent years, the Super Bowl would alternate between NBC and CBS (with each network airing the game exclusively to them). After the merger was completed in 1970, NBC would broadcast games from theAmerican Football Conference, composed of the former AFL teams as well as three teams from the old NFL.
In1971, at the behest of commissionerBowie Kuhn, NBC televised Game 4 of theWorld Series in prime time. It was the first time that a Series game had been played at night, the game attracted an audience of 61 million people. Starting the nextseason, all Series games held on a weekday would be played at or after 8:00 p.m.Eastern Time; NBC would also begin broadcasting regular-season games onMonday nights during the summer, when reruns of other shows would otherwise be broadcast. OnApril 8, 1974, NBC televised a game between theLos Angeles Dodgers and theAtlanta Braves in whichHank Aaron of the Braves hit his 715th career home run, breaking the career mark previously held byBabe Ruth.
In1972, NBC became the broadcast home of theNational Hockey League (NBC previously televised the1966 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which marked the first time that hockey games were televised incolor). Among the innovations introduced by NBC wasPeter Puck, an animated character in the form of a hockey puck, who explained the rules of hockey to television viewers unfamiliar with the sport. In addition, NBC requested that players wear names on the backs of their jerseys for theNBC Hockey Game of the Week. Nameplates would become universal in the NHL during the mid-1970s.
Beginning in1969, NBC televisedcollege basketball, including theNCAA Tournament. In1979, NBC televised the NCAA Championship that pitted future NBA rivalsLarry Bird andMagic Johnson. Johnson'sMichigan State Spartans defeated Bird'sIndiana State Sycamores, 75–64. The game earned a 24.1 rating, the highest ever for a college basketball game.
By this time, NBC was mired in third place in the ratings, however sports remained a valuable television commodity for NBC. In addition to the typically massive audience that watched the Super Bowl, NBC's broadcasts of the1978 and1980 World Series each earned a 32.8 rating, with the former being watched by an average of 44 million people and the latter by 42 million.[6] This powerful sports lineup, coupled with a resurgent prime time schedule featuring hit shows likeThe Cosby Show andCheers, would put NBC back on top of the ratings by the middle of the decade. In December 1988,CBS obtained the exclusive broadcast rights to Major League Baseball, outbidding NBC and ABC[7] and endingNBC's tenure as the home of baseball after 43 years.
In 1985, NBC announced that it had acquired the broadcasting rights of theSummer Olympic Games from ABC beginning with the1988 event.
In1989, formerABC Sports andSaturday Night Live producerDick Ebersol became president of NBC Sports. Ebersol's early tenure at NBC Sports was highlighted by a string of sports-property acquisitions and renewals, including theOlympic Games, NFL, NBA andNotre Dame football.
After CBS had wrestled baseball from NBC, NBC obtained the broadcast rights of theNational Basketball Association (NBA) in a four-year, $600 million deal.[8] The 1990s would be an era of unprecedented popularity for the NBA, spearheaded by theChicago Bullsdynasty ofMichael Jordan. In1991, NBC obtained the rights to Notre Dame home games in a $38 million deal, the first time an individual college football team had its own broadcast agreement.[9]
In1994, after a four-year hiatus, Major League Baseball returned to NBC as part of a newjoint venture with ABC called "The Baseball Network", a broadcasting arrangement in which the league produced its own telecasts and split advertising revenue with NBC and ABC.[10] The two networks would televise regional games on Friday and Saturday nights, and would alternate coverage of theAll-Star Game, the newly createdDivision Series,League Championship Series and World Series. The1994 Major League Baseball strike disrupted the plan, which proved unpopular with fans, and it was abandoned after the1995 season whenFox announced plans to begin airing MLB programming. NBC would continue broadcasting baseball, albeit on a reduced basis, until the end of the 2000 postseason.[11] It was during this period, with the broadcast rights of theNFL,NBA,Major League Baseball, and theOlympics, that NBC adopted the mantle of "America’s Sports Leader."
During the 1995-96 television season, for the only time in history, the World Series, Super Bowl,NBA Finals andSummer Olympics were telecast by the same network. It was following this run in 1996 thatThe Sporting News named Ebersol the "Most Powerful Person in Sports".[12] In1998, CBS would take over the AFC rights from NBC, ending NBC's 38-year tenure with the NFL.[13] CBS had previously lost theNational Football Conference (NFC) rights to upstart networkFox, and was by that point struggling in the ratings.
In 2000, NBC declined to renew its broadcast agreement withMajor League Baseball.[14] In2002, it was additionally outbid byESPN andABC for theNBA's new broadcast contract, ending the league's twelve-year run on NBC.[15]
During this era, NBC experimented with broadcasting emerging sports. In 2001, NBC partnered with theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) to establish theXFL – a new football league which introduced modified rules and debuted to tremendous, but short-lived fanfare, only lasting one season (NBC shared broadcast rights to the league's games, which were mainly held on Saturday nights, withUPN). In2003, NBC obtained the broadcast rights and a minority interest in theArena Football League. NBC 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 the1999 Pennzoil 400, NBC began its foray intoNASCAR.[16]NBC, along withFox, FX andTNT, obtained the broadcast rights of the top two series – theWinston Cup andBusch Series – in a six-year deal, beginning in 2001. NBC televised the second half of the season and alternated coverage of theDaytona 500 withFox. In December 2005, NBC announced that it would not renew its agreement with NASCAR. In 2001, NBC obtained the broadcast rights to horse racing'sTriple Crown in a five-year deal.
In 2004, NBC reached a broadcast agreement with theNational Hockey League (NHL).[17] The revenue-sharing deal called for the two sides to split advertising revenue after NBC recouped the expenses. Games were supposed to begin airing on NBC during the2004–05 season, however a leaguelockout that resulted in the cancellation of that season delayed the start of the contract until the second half of the2005–06 season.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 theStanley Cup Finals. Additionally in 2008, NBC broadcast thefirst Winter Classic, an outdoor NHL game played on New Year's Day atRalph 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.[18] In addition to this regular season success, Game 7 of the2009 Stanley Cup Finals was watched by an average of 8 million viewers, the highest ratings for an NHL game in 36 years.[19]
The NFL also returned to NBC in 2006 after an eight-year hiatus, broadcasting the league's new flagshipSunday Night Football game, along with select postseason games andSuper Bowl XLIII.
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In January 2011, telecommunications companyComcast finalized itsacquisition of a majority share inNBC Universal. As a result of the merger, the operations of Comcast's existing sports networks, such asGolf Channel andVersus, were merged into an entity known as theNBC Sports Group. NBC Sports' senior vice president Mike McCarley additionally became Golf Channel's new head.[20] NBC Sports' golf production unit was merged with Golf Channel, along with NBC's on-air staff, with that unit rebranding under the banner "Golf Channel on NBC", while Versus was reformatted toward a more mainstream audience, renamed the NBC Sports Network and eventually rebranded asNBCSN.[21]
The merger also helped influence an extension of NBC Sports' contract with the NHL; the 10-year deal – valued at close to $2 billion, unified the cable and broadcast television rights to the league and introduced a new "Black Friday"Thanksgiving Showdown game on NBC, along with national coverage for every game in theStanley Cup playoffs.[22] On July 3, 2011,ESPN obtained the exclusive broadcast rights toWimbledon in a 12-year deal, ending NBC's television relationship with The Championships after 42 years.[23]
NBC continued its previous NFL programming, comprisingNBC Sunday Night Football, select postseason games andSuper Bowls XLVI,XLIX, andLII.
On August 10, 2011, NBC Sports announced a new three-year broadcasting contract withMajor League Soccer to produce games for the2012 season on NBC and the NBC Sports Network. This included the broadcast of two regular season games, two playoff games, and two national team matches on NBC and 38 regular season games, three playoff games, and two national team matches on NBC Sports Network.[24] On October 28, 2012, NBC Sports also announced a three-year, $250 million deal to televisePremier League soccer in English (primarily on NBCSN) and Spanish (onTelemundo andmun2) beginning with the 2013–14 season, replacingESPN andFox Soccer as the league's U.S. broadcasters.[25]
On October 15, 2012, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired broadcast rights to theFormula One World Championship (formerly held bySpeed andFox 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) would air on NBCSN, while NBC would air the Monaco Grand Prix,Canadian Grand Prix and the final two races of the season, which include theUnited States Grand Prix. All races will also be streamed online and through the NBC Sports Live Extramobile app.[26][27][28] On October 4, 2017, it was announced that NBC Sports lost the broadcast rights toESPN beginning with the 2018–2019 season.[29][30]
On March 18, 2013, nearly all of the operations for NBC Sports and NBCSN began to be based out of a purpose-built facility inStamford, Connecticut. The move was made mainly to take advantage oftax credits given by the state ofConnecticut, which NBC has taken advantage of previously with thedaytime talk shows of itssister broadcast syndication division.[31] OnlyFootball Night in America remained in New York City, atStudio 8G in Rockefeller Center, until September 7, 2014, when production of that program also moved to Stamford.
In July 2013, NBC Sports reached a 10-year deal to restore NASCAR coverage to its properties for the first time since 2006. Beginning in the 2015 season, NBC and NBCSN televise coverage of the final 20 races of theCup Series, and the final 19 races of the second-level circuit now known as theXfinity Series. While no specific financial details were disclosed, NBC reportedly paid 50% more thanESPN and TNT (who took over the portion of the season previously held by NBC) combined under the previous deal.[32][33]
In May 2015, NBCUniversal announced the formation ofNBC Deportes, which will serve as aSpanish-language branch of NBC Sports forTelemundo andNBC Universo.[34]
On June 7, 2015, NBC Sports andThe R&A agreed to a twelve-year deal to televiseThe Open Championship,Senior Open Championship, andWomen's British Open on NBC and Golf Channel, beginning in 2017.[35] The move came a year after NBC lost the rights toUSGA tournaments to Fox Sports. The R&A's deal withESPN had been through 2017, but the broadcaster opted out of the final year of their agreement.[36]
Universal Sports Network ceased operations in November 2015. NBCUniversal acquired the rights to the content that was previously held by Universal Sports Network. Much of the programming moved toUniversal HD, with the rest of the programming moving to NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra.[37]
On March 7, 2016, NBC Sports and England's Premiership Rugby agreed an initial three-year deal to televise theAviva Premiership from the following season. Up to 24 regularly scheduled Game of the Week programs for each round of the premiership will air on NBCSN and up to 50 other games will also be streamed live throughout the season on NBC Sports Live Extra. NBC's first live match was on March 12, 2016, whenLondon Irish hostedSaracens at theRed Bull Arena inNew Jersey.[38]
In June 2016, the group launchedNBC Sports Gold, an over-the-top streaming service. It debuted with a Cycling Pass, featuring several UCI road cycling races. In April 2017, a Track and Field Pass was launched, featuringIAAF andUSA Track & Field meets, a Rugby Pass featuring theEnglish Premiership, and a Pro Motocross Pass featuring theAMA Motocross Championship.[39][40] APremier League Pass was added in June 2017.[citation needed]
On March 21, 2018, it was announced that NBC Sports would renew its contract with theIndyCar Series (continuing a relationship with NBCSN which began in 2009 as Versus),[41] through 2021, and acquire the broadcast television rights previously held byABC. NBC will televise seven races per-season beginning in 2019, including the series flagshipIndianapolis 500, marking the first time since 1964 that ABC will not broadcast the race.[42][43] On April 30, 2018, it was announced that NBC Sports would broadcast theWeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2019, through 2024 in a six-year television agreement.[44]
In March 2019, NBC agreed to a Super Bowl exchange with CBS; as a result, bothSuper Bowl LVI and theWinter Olympics were televised by NBC in 2022. As withSuper Bowl LII, which fell prior to the2018 Winter Olympics, the network is expected to maximize its advertising revenue by encouraging sponsors to buy time for both events.[45][46]
Following the launch of NBCUniversal's streaming servicePeacock, NBC Sports began to migrate some of its overflow content (including the Premier League and other NBC Sports Gold services) to the service.[47] On June 29, 2020, Fox sold the last seven years of its contract to air USGA tournaments to NBC, regaining rights to the U.S. Open for the first time since 2015.[48][49]
In January 2021, it was reported that NBCUniversal planned to shut down NBCSN by the end of the year; an internal memo cited increased competition from streaming services and the other mainstream sports networks as reasoning.[50][51] The channel was officially shut down on December 31, 2021;[52] its remaining programming rights were moved to other NBCUniversal platforms, particularly USA Network and Peacock.[52]
NBC's contract with the NHL expired after the2020–21 season, with the league signing new contracts withESPN andTNT.[53][54]
On April 6, 2022, NBC Sports announced a deal to carry a package of Sunday afternoon MLB games on Peacock branded asMLB Sunday Leadoff beginning in the2022 season.[55][56][57] NBC Sports declined to renew its deal after the2023 season, with the package moving toRoku instead.[58][59]
On July 1, 2022, NBC Sports announced that Olympic Channel would shut down as a linear channel on September 30, 2022.[60][61]
On August 18, 2022, NBC Sports announced a seven-year deal to carryBig Ten Conference college athletics across its platforms beginning in the 2023–24 academic season. This contract will most notably include a new package of primetime Big Ten college football games on NBC beginning in the 2023 season, as well as a package of college basketball and Olympic sports coverage on Peacock.[62][63]
Beginning with the 2023 NFL season, Peacock exclusively streams at least one regular season game per season. Most notably, Peacock exclusively streamed theMiami Dolphins–Kansas City Chiefs wild card playoff game during the 2023 season.[64][65] The game drove 2.8 million sign-ups to Peacock and averaged 23 million viewers.[66][67]
On June 11, 2024,TNT Sports officially announced a 10-year deal with theFrench Open, ending a broadcasting arrangement with NBC Sports dating back to 1983.[68][69] Two days later,IndyCar andFox agreed to a deal to broadcast theIndyCar Series, ending its 15-year partnership with NBC Sports.[70]
On June 27, 2024, NBC Sports and theBig East Conference announced a six-year deal to begin in the 2025–26 academic year. NBC Sports will carry more than 60 men’s and women’s basketball regular season and tournament games. Peacock begins its coverage in the 2024–25 academic year with 25 regular season games and five early round and quarterfinal conference tournament games in men's basketball.[71][72]
On July 23, 2024, Comcast confirmed during a conference call with investors that theNBA would return to NBC Sports in the 2025–26 season under an 11-year agreement; an official announcement was released by the NBA and NBC Sports the following day. NBC and Peacock will carry 100 regular season games throughout the season, including Monday night games on Peacock, regional Tuesday night games, and a package of Sunday night games following the conclusion of NFL season. NBC will also carry a doubleheader onMartin Luther King Jr. Day, coverage ofAll-Star Weekend, and a slate of playoff games (including six conference finals over the length of the agreement). Rights to theNBA Finals will remain exclusive toABC. The agreement also includes broadcasting rights to theWomen's National Basketball Association (WNBA). NBC Sports' WNBA package includes more than 50 regular-season and first-round playoff games, seven WNBA semi-finals, and threeWNBA Finals. WNBA games will air on NBC, USA Network, and Peacock.[73][74][75][76]