07/19/21: NBC's Betsy Riley breaks down plans for the Summer Games

Monday July 19, 2021

It only took a year longer than expected but the Summer Games finally kick off this week, and NBC Olympics presents the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday on NBC and actual competition starting tomorrow as Team USA women’s soccer and softball teams highlight the first competition. The action begins with a doubleheader as host country Japan faces Australia live at 8p, followed by Team USA taking on Italy at 11p.

One of the stalwarts for every summer games, of course, has been track & field. Track & field at the Tokyo Olympics will be produced by Betsy Riley, who becomes the first woman to serve as the lead producer of Olympic track & field, with talent led by Leigh Diffey, as the play-by-play voice of NBC Olympics’ track & field coverage, with Ato Boldon serving as lead track & field analyst, in addition to Kara Goucher and Trey Hardee. Lewis Johnson reprises his role as a track & field reporter after serving in the same capacity for the prior three Summer Olympics. Talent is rounded out by analyst Sanya Richards-Ross and Paul Swangard. Cynopsis Sports asked Riley about her vision for the storytelling that will go into the presentation and what fans can expect in the weeks ahead.

Riley on goals: We aim to re-acquaint our audience – which may not watch track & field day in and day out — with the sport, while telling the stories of the athletes who capture our attention and imagination over the 10 days of track & field competition.

On the absence of fans: There’s nothing like a raucous stadium rooting on the world’s best athletes. But have you ever watched a kid catch the Super Bowl-winning catch in their backyard? Have you ever seen a group of neighborhood kids race to the trash can at the end of the block? Or a little girl sticking the landing on a playground? For athletes — since childhood and universally — it’s always been about the performance and the joy associated with the athletic feat. Running faster. Jumping higher. Throwing farther. The crowd — real or imagined — is secondary. I expect the athletic feats to shine in Olympic stadium.
Because there won’t be fans in the stadium, we will lean in to natural sound on the field of play. We’ll aim to capture the raw emotion when a sprinter crosses the line first, and the scream when a thrower releases the shot put. The sounds of the sport will carry us when possible.
Next, we’ll bring family, friends, and cheering sections into our broadcast. We’ll see athletes’ families cheering them on from their homes, schools, or community watch parties. We look forward to bringing cheering sections across America to Tokyo.

On what she is looking forward to the most: The competition! These are the hard, but important days: preparing and waiting. Once the athletes take the track, we’re as ready and excited as they are. To use a track parallel, right now it feels like a starter is holding us in our blocks, and we’re just waiting for the gun to fire. The Olympics are unique. These athletes have a chance every four (or five, in this case) years to put their athletic talent on display. The Olympic lights are the brightest, there is no margin for error, the pressure is great. These athletes have trained — often in anonymity and amidst great challenges — for this rare opportunity. The Olympics yield emotion. Winning or narrowly missing; performing at your best or committing an error — I fully expect to see the range of human emotion play out at Olympic Stadium. I feel honored to have a role in documenting these moments and bringing them to family rooms across the country.

On takeaways about T&F competition after Eugene: The athletes are ready. In the past year, athletes’ schedules were disrupted, training was challenging, and competitions were scarce. Many athletes struggled to find facilities. Tracks were locked, and runners trained on the streets — hopping medians and dodging traffic. Some built throwing rings or pole vault pits in their backyards. But what the Trials showed us is that the athletes used that time well: they rested; remained focused; creatively honed their crafts; and came into 2021 ready to compete. We saw two World Records. We saw American records. The performances in Eugene showed us that American athletes have overcome the challenges of the pandemic year and are ready to compete at the highest level.

On what should audiences be looking forward to: There are many American athletes — across all events — who are favored to win an Olympic medal. We can’t wait to watch Olympic Champion Dalilah Mohammad and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin take the track in the 400m Hurdles. Every time they race, they seem to bring out the best in one another. Mohammad has the Olympic Gold, World Championship title, and was — until the Olympic Trials — the world record holder. These two athletes chase one another with elevated performances each outing.
Similarly, the Men’s 400m Hurdle race is expected to be spectacular. American Rai Benjamin will be pitted against Norway’s Karsten Warholm. Like Mohammad and McLaughlin, they chase one another and along the way, we get to bear witness to incredible racing.
Allyson Felix, the most decorated American woman in Olympic T&F history, chases more Olympic hardware. But her journey is different than it was in years past. She’s now a mom. In motherhood, she’s found a voice — advocating for Black maternal health and contract protections for female athletes. We look forward to watching Allyson Felix take the Olympic track again.
And there’s Ryan Crouser who broke a long-standing world record in the shot put on the first night of competition at the Trials. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for everyone in Tokyo.
The US team features other familiar faces like Matthew Centrowitz, Emma Coburn, and Brittney Reese. And youngsters like Grant Holloway, Erriyon Knighton, Athing Mu and Gabby Thomas will shine under the Olympic spotlight for the first time.

PROGRAMMING

Univision Communications secured the rights to the top competitions in South America, Brasileirão Championship and Argentina’s Liga Profesional de Fútbol, as part of a multi-year deal that will deliver live matches on PrendeTV, Univision’s free ad-supported streaming service. The deal sees Univision stream live matches from the Campeonato Brasileirão Série A and B and Argentine Primera División games, including playoffs and the SuperCopa, to fans over its PrendeTV service.

UFC locked in the 9th Annual UFC International Fight Week will take place in Las Vegas from Sept. 21-25, headlined by UFC® 266: VOLKANOVSKI vs. ORTEGA, presented by Modelo. The week will also include the traditional 2020 UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and a two-day, interactive UFC Fan Experience.

ESPN/ABC is boasting of viewership and usage marks for July 10-12, in which 60,658,000 viewers tuned in to an ESPN network or sports on ABC. Notable benchmarks included the weekend’s Wimbledon singles finals peaking at 1.6 million viewers for Saturday’s Ladies’ Championship and 2.6 million for Sunday’s Gentlemen’s Championship, Sunday’s final of the UEFA EURO 2020 averaging 6.5 million viewers, Sunday’s Game 3 of The NBA Finals averaging 9.1 million viewers, the MLB Draft hosting the most-watched first round ever, Monday’s Home Run Derby ranking as the most-watched since 2017, and The ESPYS ranking Saturday’s most social sporting event on linear television.

July 20’s broadcast of the Tampa Bay Rays/Baltimore Orioles will see the first-ever all-women broadcast for Major League Baseball, per USA Today. The booth will be helmed by Orioles’ play-by-play announcer Melanie Newman, joined by analyst Sarah Langs with Alanna Rizzo on the field. Pre-game and post-game will feature MLB Network’s Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner.

Amazon is reportedly in discussions with NBC to partner up for Thursday Night Football. The New York Post writes that the two companies are hammering out a potential three-year deal (with Amazon having the option to extend it to five) in which NBC would open the door to the services of Sunday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli.

Tony Gonzalez is leaving FOX Sports, according to Front Office Sports, and will now focus on acting on TV and movies. The former Chiefs and Falcons player transitioned to broadcast following his retirement from the NFL at the end of the 2013 season and has worked for FOX Sports since 2017.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

The Phoenix Suns secured a multi-platform alliance with material science and engineering firm Footprint, that includes naming rights to the team’s home venue, which will now be known as Footprint Center, making its debut during Game 5 of the NBA Finals The deal includes the Suns, WNBA Mercury and Real Mallorca and will also see Footprint offer sustainable solutions that eliminate single-use and short-term use plastics, including food and drinks in sustainable packaging.

Tractor Supply Company announced a multi-year agreement to be the official “Life Out Here” partner for PBR. The partnership sports a multi-channel marketing plan that includes a Tractor Supply-branded TV broadcast set, CBS television integrations and commercials, enhanced digital media experiences, local store activations across the country and custom content incorporating Tractor Supply and PBR rider talent. For the first time ever, the PBR broadcast desk on CBS will transform from a set within the arena to a Tractor Supply-branded, open-air broadcast booth featuring both brands and enabling fan engagement during the pre-show broadcast. Tractor Supply will also have exclusive branding with the in-arena broadcast booth as announcers provide dirt-side commentary, conduct rider interviews and capture the excitement of the competition.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Soccer journalist Doug McIntyre joined FOX Sports’ roster where he contributes original written and video content to the network’s digital and social platforms, including the FOX Sports app and FOXSports.com. He previously covered soccer as a staff writer at Yahoo Sports and ESPN. The New York City native also served as a staff writer for the New York Times and Toronto Star.

Mobile sports betting app WynnBET secured its first partnership with an NFL team through a multi-year sponsorship with the Detroit Lions. The team will designate WynnBET as an official sportsbook and gaming partner of the team and house the WynnBET Sports Bar at Ford Field.

ESPORTS

PUBG Mobile and Gamers without Borders are teaming for a new charity tournament, titled PUBG MOBILE World Invitational and offering $3 million. The event will be divided into two tournaments, called PMWI East and PMWI West with the winner of each receiving $1.5 million. The event will span July 22-25.

Swedish esports team Ninjas in Pyjamas dropped two limited edition digital team jerseys as NFTs with 103 NFTs available in total that were released and sold out in under two minutes. The collection was called ‘Shinobi Shozoku’ and the team became the first-ever esports team to release a team jersey in digital form and as an NFT.

INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES

Outdoor Sportsman Group announced the promotion of Mike Savino to Vice President, Ad Sales overseeing all endemic multi-media sales for the company. Savino served as the Director, Ad Sales. Savino will continue to oversee Outdoor Sportsman Group’s endemic ad sales campaigns and client relationships for the company’s television networks’ (Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel and World Fishing Network) branded television shows, 20 websites and 16 outdoor lifestyle magazines.

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ON THIS DAY in
1920: Babe Ruth hits his 30th home run of the 1920 baseball season.

IN THE KNOW
The Olympic torch is a tribute to the fire that burned throughout the ancient Greek Olympic games honoring which goddess? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).

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Multiple choice! How far does a typical bowling pin need to tilt before it will fall? A) 33 degrees. B) 24.5 degrees C) 15 degrees D) 7.5 degrees. Answer: D, 7.5 degrees. Kudos: Michael Ritz-Lenox Advisors/NY; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Anne Wettig-Fox S&P/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

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