NBC Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Kentucky Derby viewership climbs despite attendance dip
Saturday's Kentucky Derby surpassed last year's viewership total as the most-watched edition of the race since 1989, according to the early numbers.,Sovereignty's victory in the season's first Triple Crown race averaged 17.7 million viewers on NBC, according to a combination of Nielsen fast-national...

Iconic song returning to NBC's coverage of NBA games
NBC is dusting off "Roundball Rock" for its coverage of NBA games.,The network, one of the three broadcast entities that agreed to an 11-year, $77 billion deal to air NBA games beginning next season, made the announcement about its basketball anthem on Saturday.,It was during a commercial break in N...

Mike Tirico a late scratch for Kentucky Derby due to illness
Mike Tirico was scratched from Kentucky Derby anchoring duties on Saturday due to feeling "under the weather.",Less than an hour into the prerace coverage for The Run for the Roses, Tirico was no longer performing his television duties.,NBC's Ahmed Fareed announced the move on the broadcast immediat...

Report: Scott Hanson in NBC talks as NFL negotiations stall
Scott Hanson was lauded for his coverage of last summer's Paris Olympics with NBC, and the longtime "NFL RedZone" host could soon return to the broadcasting giant in a larger role.,Front Office Sports reported Thursday that Hanson, 53, is in talks with NBC Sports regarding Olympics and NFL coverage ...

Paris Olympics fuel Peacock surge in subscriptions
Peacock parent company Comcast reported Thursday that its streaming service added 3 million subscribers during its live broadcast of the Paris Olympics.,Comcast, which also owns NBC Sports, said it made $32.1 billion in total revenue during the third quarter, which was boosted by Peacock's 9 percent...

Ravens-Chiefs scores record kickoff ratings for NBC
Thursday night's thriller between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs drew a record number of viewers for an NFL kickoff game.,According to NBC Sports, the Chiefs' 27-20 victory had an average audience of 28.9 million across NBC and Peacock, surpassing the 27.6 million who watched the New En...

Paris Olympics ratings up 82 percent over Tokyo Games
Viewership of the 2024 Paris Olympics averaged a combined 30.6 million per day for NBC Universal's daytime and primetime coverage, an 82 percent increase from the 2020 Tokyo Games, the company said.,The Tokyo Olympics, delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, averaged 16.9 million viewer...

WNBA builds on soaring popularity with new media rights agreements
The rocketing growth of the WNBA is reflected in the league's new media rights agreements announced Wednesday for the 2026 through 2036 seasons.,Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video remain partners along with a new agreement with NBCUniversal (NBCU) covering broadcast, cable and s...

Reports: NBA office receives Amazon, NBC rights proposals
The NBA has received 11-year, $75.9 billion proposals that would grant broadcasting rights to NBC and Amazon Prime Video starting with the 2025-26 season, according to multiple media reports on Wednesday.,ABC/ESPN, owned by Disney, would retain certain broadcast rights, including the NBA Finals. TNT...

What does it say about America that random NFL games dominate the most-watched TV list?
The sports world was reminded of two important things over the last few months. One, Taylor Swift’s presence is a game-changer. Two, the people who once claimed they’d never watch the NFL again because Black players kneeled, are bonafide liars....

NFL's and NBC's ploy to get people to watch Saturday’s game on Peacock
The NFL is laying off the commercials for a night . . . game on a holiday weekend that airs on Peacock. The Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers matchup on Saturday will feature a 40 percent reduction in ads, with zero commercials during the final 15 minutes. Ideally, that’ll be accompanied by a runni...

Tommy Tuberville thinks white nationalists are getting a bad rap
Tommy Tuberville’s claim to fame as a football coach was derived from his silver-tongued salesmanship when it came time to recruit African-American teens, in their homes, and in front of their parents or coaches to his program. He peaked at Auburn in the early-to-mid 2000s and then bounced right whe...

San Francisco Giants return from Mexico City trip with two losses, diarrhea
Don’t drink the water in Mexico. It’s sound advice, but the San Franciso Giants must have missed the memo. While playing a series against the San Diego Padres in Mexico City, pitcher Logan Webb estimated that 75 percent of the clubhouse had the shits....

Half of the road teams took 1-0 leads in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs — welcome to April Madness
Just weeks after March Madness gave us an NCAA Tournament that provided multiple historic upsets during its first weekend, it looks like the pros in the NBA took that personally. Four of the eight matchups from this past weekend’s Game Ones were won by the road team. And one of them was the Miami He...

The Golden State Warriors core is discovering its first gray hairs
The Golden State Warriors have been hovering at or around .500 all season long. In 2020 and 2021 you could chalk it up to injuries and the reloading process. That championship hill their overwhelming talent allowed them to ascend is starting to appear too steep for their core to climb on its own. A ...

The Jeff Bezos-Dan Snyder pissing contest, explained
It appears that Daniel Snyder’s disdain for Jeff Bezos will prevent the billionaire Amazon founder from buying the Washington Commanders. Bezos was allegedly prevented from joining a private auction for the NFL franchise by Snyder due to a long-standing grudge. (Bezos and Snyder did not return calls...

Give me 'Roundball Rock' or give me death
Professional sports leagues are the big winners of the streaming wars because live sports seem to be the only thing that still moves the ratings needle. As long as the production value remains intact, the “boom-goes-the-dynamite” guy isn’t announcing, and the stream actually streams, I could care le...

The backlash against Tony Dungy has been a long time coming
It hasn’t been a great week for NBC Sports football analyst Tony Dungy. He made up one-half of perhaps the most low-energy broadcast team we’ve ever heard on Saturday night (along with Al Michaels, and has been getting flack for it ever since. Dungy has also been getting roasted, and rightly so, by ...

Slow start or bad investment? NFL’s TNF ratings drop after move to Amazon
Is it at all surprising that a more difficult entry point for Thursday Night Football games led to a drop in ratings? With the news that Amazon had to compensate advertisers because it didn’t meet the expected viewership numbers, it might be time to ask: How suitable is the streaming model for live ...

Good news from Bears camp: Justin Fields is in a happy place
The Chicago Bears offense. Those words could be presented to children to teach them the meaning of the word oxymoron....