NBC coverage shifts into high gear with trials

Officials in Tokyo still not sure about admitting fans

The opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics is six weeks away but NBC’s coverage of the upcoming Games shifts into high gear beginning this weekend.

NBC will present 13 nights of prime-time coverage of U.S. trials in four sports over the next two weeks, beginning Saturday with the diving trials. The network’s coverage will also include swimming, track & field and gymnastics.

Trials coverage is an important part of NBC’s preparations for the Olympics. There will be over 83 hours on NBC, NBCSN, Olympic Channel, Peacock, and digital platforms with more than 50 in prime time.

“We’re always trying to bring more coverage of these great athletes and their incredible stories to the audience. This opportunity to introduce those story lines right now is really great for us,” said Joe Gesue the senior vice president of production for NBC Olympics.

Swimming and track & field will get the most coverage hours with both trials lasting eight days. Swimming starts Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska, with track scheduled to begin on June 18 in Eugene, Oregon.

The most anticipated trials for most casual Olympics viewers will be in gymnastics, which starts June 24. The final night of the women’s competition, headlined by Simone Biles, will be June 27.

Gesue said the trials coverage helps announcers and production teams because the competition schedules mirror the order of events in Tokyo. He noted the trials help test out some of the production elements that will be used during the Olympics.

“We want to give our production and announce teams the tools they need. We’re getting better at data analysis and some of the cameras continue to improve,” he said. “The core, though, remains storytelling and bringing the human drama.”

The trials will also be one of the final opportunities for NBC’s Olympics research department and features units to compile things they will be utilizing during Tokyo, including profiling surprise qualifiers.

FANS OR NOT? The question of allowing any fans into Tokyo Olympic venues is still being debated with a decision unlikely to be announced before the end of the month.

This would be just a few weeks before the Olympics are to open on July 23. Fans from abroad have already been banned in what is shaping up as a largely made-for-television Olympics.

Tokyo and several prefectures are under a state of emergency until June 20. Infections have slowed recently, but the spread of variants is still a concern that could put pressure on already stressed medical facilities.

Dr. Nobuhiko Okabe, director general of the Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health, suggested on Friday he would lean toward few fans. He spoke on a panel put together by the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.

“Thinking in a different way, I think it’s an option to suggest to people to enjoy the games on TV — like teleworking,” he said. “We could suggest a different way of enjoying the games.”

Okabe said it was not just a matter of fans in the venues, but what they do after leaving — heading to bars or restaurants.

“We don’t want people to move much,” he said.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto originally said she would announce a decision in April about local fans but has repeatedly postponed it.

Ticket sales were to account for $800 million in income for the organizing committee. Much of that will be lost and has to be made up by Japanese government entities.

Japan is officially spending $15.4 billion to run the Olympics, though government audits suggest the figure is much higher. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

The Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee derives almost 75% of its income from selling broadcast rights, which drives the games and the urgency to hold it during a pandemic.

Japan’s JiJi Press reported Friday, without citing sources, that Dr. Shigeru Omi would issue a report next week that warns about the risks of having fans. He is a former World Health Organization regional director and a head of a government task force on the virus.

Speaking in a parliamentary session last week, he said “it is crucial that we must not let the Olympics trigger a flow of people.”