THE MODERATOR: Good evening, good afternoon, and good morning. Wherever you are, thank you so much for joining us today for NBC SPORTS Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics conference call.
In a moment we'll be joined by NBC SPORTS President Rick Cordella, executive producer and president of programming for NBC Olympics, Molly Solomon, Primetime in Milan host Mike Tirico, and global megastar and NBC Olympics Ambassador of Happiness Snoop Dogg.
Let's begin with opening remarks from Rick Cordella.
RICK CORDELLA: Thanks, Chris. Good afternoon everyone.
NBC Universal's legendary February is off to a great start. Just last night we reported viewership metrics for Sunday's Super Bowl. There are many highlights, including the largest peak audience in U.S. TV history at 137.8 million viewers watching late in the second quarter. The full game averaged 125 million viewers. It was the second most watched show in U.S. history.
As we celebrate 100 years of NBC in 2026, Sunday's Super Bowl is the most watched show in the history of NBC. After the trophy presentation with confetti still falling and Seahawks players celebrating with their family, Mike Tirico went from calling the biggest game of his career to hosting Primetime in Milan.
That Sunday night Olympics presentation averaged 42 million viewers. It is the most watched winter games presentation in 12 years.
In addition to the Olympic milestone, Peacock achieved its best day ever in terms of both reach and hours streamed, and the post Super Bowl debut of The 'Burbs was the best day-one launch of a Peacock original.
In all, Olympic coverage is off to the best start since the 2014 Sochi Olympics, averaging 26.4 million viewers through Tuesday. Our Olympic success is in large part a testament to Team USA. Through today's competition, the United States has won 12 medals, including 10 just in the past two days, with Jordan Stolz winning gold and Chock and Bates winning a silver today, and many more U.S. athletes with strong chances to medal.
As we continue on in our legendary February, we deliver for all of our partners in all of our divisions of Comcast, NBC Universal, and our NBC stations that benefited from the promotion in and the halo effect around the Super Bowl and the Olympics.
Most importantly, I want to close with a quick "thank you" to our dedicated production, engineering, operations, and announce teams that seamlessly worked to bring the two biggest sporting events to the American audience. Our success wouldn't be possible without the tireless work in Milan, Stanford, and Santa Clara.
Next up, we're excited for a big NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A., where the new USA versus World format will fit in perfectly with the Olympic spirit.
With that, I'll turn it over to the leader of the Olympic production team, Molly Solomon.
MOLLY SOLOMON: Thanks, Rick. I thought I'd give you a first few impressions of the first five days. It's great to have the quintessential Winter Olympics back, the classic mountain setting, packed stadiums and incredible stories, and new ones, as you said, emerging every day. The Olympics are thrilling, unpredictable, and they always deliver.
From a production perspective, our goal is always to bring the viewers closer to the action, and some of our onscreen innovations are really resonating with viewers. Seemingly everyone is talking about the live drone coverage. It's breathtaking. It's equally terrifying.
So we really think the world broadcaster OBS has transformed the Olympics coverage. That game-changing technology is really combined with unprecedented access that we've gained to the American athletes, and it's given us such rich storytelling moments. Really we've captured scenes that have never been seen before in the Olympics.
I know you're really interested in talking to Snoop and Mike. So glad Snoop is on the call today. He's full of boundless joy and curiosity. Just like in Paris, nobody is having a better time than our special correspondent. He was at the speed skating track with Eric Heiden, and tomorrow he's off to the mountains to watch Chloe Kim.
As I throw to Mike Tirico, there's been a lot written about his Super Bowl-to-Olympics Odyssey, but what I'm always going to remember is texting with him as he was over Greenland. He was supposed to be resting, but he was watching Peacock, and we had a back-and-forth about the U.S. curling team's upset win in the semifinals. I think that's a testament that he truly is one of one.
Mike, take it away.
MIKE TIRICO: Thank you, Molly. "Gold Zone" over Greenland was great. It was the surprise of the trip for sure.
It's been an unbelievable last week and a half plus. I mentioned to someone earlier that our Super Bowl producer Rob Hyland, writing me about a week, week and a half before the Super Bowl and said, let's just make sure we enjoy the experience. I cannot remember a more enjoyable 10 or 11 days than we've had here. Jumping right into the Olympics has been a blast. Monday night's show was a whirlwind, but it was fun.
Any tiredness or exhaustion has been nonexistent because of the adrenaline of the Olympic games. As we talk, I'm sitting here watching Sweden and Italy play in hockey. No Italian player has ever played in an NHL game. Sweden has taken 56 shots, and Italy is down one goal. That's the fun of the Olympics. You jump body deep into all this fun stuff, and you fall in love with games that you never would have even thought you'd watch.
Team USA is off to a great start these last two days. The 10 medals that Rick referenced is great energy.
Everyone says, are you having a good time? It's work, and work is a blast. I just know at some point in my life I want to come back to the Olympics as Snoop. Snoop is having the greatest time. Popped in here with his highlights last night. Sitting next to Eric Heiden on the TV today. And his enjoyment of everything that is the Olympics, not just in Paris but also here, has been infectious for all of us. Snoop, I'll throw it over to you.
SNOOP DOGG: Thanks, Mikey. I'm the biggest kid in the room. So everything is fun for me. Everything is love for me. The thrill that I get is that I get a chance to meet the athletes' parents and their family members who was a part of the journey before they got here. Then at the same time, to be able to coach the athletes and coach them in athletics and in life and to show them what love looks like and how we represent the USA globally in a beautiful way.
It's been a fun experience for me. I look forward doing every time, and all the time they call. Like I said, I'm the biggest kid in the room. I'm in the candy store right now eating as much candy as I can, and I'm passing it on to the whole world.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, everybody. Now we can ask questions.
Q. This question is for Snoop and Mike. What words of encouragement could you give Lindsey Vonn as she recovers from her injury? What positive words can you give some of these athletes that are competing in the Winter Olympics?
SNOOP DOGG: First of all, to Lindsey, I just want to say she is an inspiration. For her to even lace up and to get into that Olympic atmosphere knowing she was already under injury shows a lot of spirit and motivation. She inspires a lot of us, and now we're inspired by her. She needs to know that we love her. The people around the whole world loved her. I was there at the venue. When she took the fall, the whole stadium clapped. They stood up in love and giving her appreciation as she flew away in the helicopter. She is a total inspiration.
And for the young athletes that's over there, my story to them is you believed in yourself and people believed in you. Now you have the opportunity to have the world believe. The steps that you take to get here, don't forget those. Keep yourself in tune with what you're supposed to be doing on the ice. Do not pay attention to what's outside of that. Stay focused and remember you've got family and friends way back at home in America or wherever you come from that love you and support you because you represent your country.
MIKE TIRICO: Just on the Lindsey front, there's nobody who I would invest in more in a comeback, not the skiing comeback necessarily, but just to come back as strong as ever than Lindsey Vonn. Nobody's like her who I've been around in sports. Her resiliency is extraordinary.
I reached out and got a text back from her today as a matter of fact, just wishing her the best as she goes through her surgery and her procedures to get back towards health. We wish her nothing but the best.
You brought up young, and I think that's a good point. There are a couple of 21-year-olds in Ilia Malinin and Jordan Stolz, and so far they have performed at a high level here in what's new space. Ilia Malinin was very honest, saying that it's just a little bit different in the Olympics. Even he was a bit caught off guard with how different it felt when he competed in the team competition.
I think that's a great reminder, you have so many young athletes who are college age really, who are coming over and performing on the global stage, representing Team USA, and performing at the highest level. They should be an inspiration to all of us for how well they handle these situations. When you're around some of these athletes, you're reminded that we're all in good hands going forward with a generation of doers, achievers, and people who have pushed to the limits and still find a way to do it with grace.
Q. A quick one for Molly. Molly, you mentioned the drones. Obviously they're cool, but what do you think about them makes them an effective storytelling tool? And what other things that maybe OBS has integrated that you feel you guys have been really pleased by?
MOLLY SOLOMON: I feel like the drones are a game changer because it gives you a different perspective. Our coordinating director, Mike Sheehan, was talking about how usually you move left to right on the screen, and now you actually have a vertical drop, particularly in alpine.
So you are sitting on the back of a skier. You're right behind the skater. So it just gives you the athlete perspective. Also, I think most of all, it's the speed and the drop. It's funny, we showed some footage to some of the U.S. alpine skiers this fall, and they said that's the closest that we've ever seen to allowing the viewer to understand what we're doing.
So I really think that we're bringing the athletic experience to life with the drones.
Q. Molly on the drones, you mentioned how resonant they've been. I'm just curious if you could elaborate on NBC's relationship with OBS kind of tactically, how is coverage coordinated between the two organizations when it comes to the drones, and any other color you might be able to add there would be helpful.
MOLLY SOLOMON: Sure. OBS is Olympic Broadcasting Services, and they provide the world feed globally. So we have a very close relationship with them because obviously the world needs a feed and so does NBC. In many cases at the Winter Olympics, you can imagine you can't have side-by-side drones flying down. So we partner with OBS to think about what kinds of innovations and how we can move the coverage forward.
At the majority of sports, we will take the Olympic Broadcasting Services' world feed, and we will supplement what NBC does. So we have our own storytelling cameras before the skaters take the ice, for example, and after. So we're able to put cameras behind the scenes so we can focus on the narratives that our announcers are interested in.
But it is very much a really close relationship in the years between Olympics where we talk about what are the breakthroughs that we want to bring to the world and how can we do it hand in hand? Everything from new kinds of metrics, new kinds of graphics. So in so many ways it's a partnership that can bring this to life.
Q. Molly, I've got two questions for you on the figure skating coverage. Number one, how is Rinkside Live doing? That's the Peacock feature where you're watching the figure skating live, you get three pictures. One, the actual action going on. Two, the coach watching the action. Three, who's coming next behind the scenes. Secondly, one of the things that was very impressive about the figure skating coverage is the skating choreography. You are seeing the choreographers not just for the US teams but all the teams doing everything from gymnastics, to jazz dance, modern dance, ballet, and then they talk about doing a feature on the choreographers and the show they're giving all of us?
MOLLY SOLOMON: Thank you, Simon. Rinkside Live actually debuted today with figure skating. We were watching it all day long. We'll get a sense of viewers' engagement. I think it's a great complementary.
We are very much a two-screen society, so if you're watching on your connected TV or your big TV, on your phone you can be watching all the supplementary feeds. We focused on the coaches. We focused behind the scenes. I can't wait to keep watching. I think it's going to be really cool in hockey because we're going to be on the benches.
It really is leaning into the different ways of multitasking and all the screens we have in front of us. We think it's going to be a really cool innovation and additive to the Peacock experience.
Q. This question is for Mike. Obviously I imagine you are aware of all the attention that your schedule has gotten over the past week or so, certainly doing the Super Bowl and the Olympics in the same day. I was just curious to hear from you what you kind of think about the way that people have perceived all of the travel that you've done, the incredible workload that you're doing, and also if you wanted to just speak to some of your other colleagues who are doing similar stuff. Obviously Kaylee Hartung did the Super Bowl and now she's at the Olympics as well. Just wanted to ask you about that.
MIKE TIRICO: Sure, I'll start with that. It's not just Kaylee too. There are plenty of our folks behind the scenes. A couple of our floor directors, other folks who operate our cameras, like that steadicam. As a matter of fact, Mike German, who got that unbelievable shot of Charlie Puth at the national anthem with the flyover and the singer and the second flyover. Mike was on our trip as well.
There have been plenty of us who have done it, and I think we all have a great appreciation where we work someplace that NBC has made it possible for us to handle this confluence of events on the schedule and be present and be able to contribute to all of them.
I just saw Kaylee up in Livigno. I texted with her this afternoon to check on how her ride went up there yesterday after she was on the Today show Tuesday morning.
Maria Taylor has also arrived here in Italy. She did the same deal with doing the Super Bowl and then joined us over here on Tuesday, the day after the rest of us arrived from Santa Clara and the Super Bowl.
Nobody cares. Honestly, I appreciate the kind words, but people just want to watch the Super Bowl and people want to watch the Olympics. I'm glad that it's at least brought some attention to the incredible people behind the scenes who give us the opportunity to make this happen.
It's been a dream for me. It really has. I will never forget these couple weeks. Never had a chance to do it. Nobody has before. I'm privileged to work for the people who gave me that chance.
This has been fun. Whoever's written about it, if they've enjoyed reading on our travel log, that's great. I haven't posted -- I'm not a big social media poster of "Here I am getting on the plane and here's what I'm wearing today." I don't do that stuff. So I haven't posted anything. At some point I'll sit down and just post the pictures of the great people who I've had the chance to share these couple of weeks with.
The job is do the Primetime show in a couple hours, and that's my focus for the moment, and then get up and do the day time and Primetime double dip again tomorrow and for the next 11 days until we put the flame out.
Q. Snoop, how are you balancing your work with Team USA and NBC?
SNOOP DOGG: It's a juggling act, but this is what I do. This is what I do very well. It's the task at hand that I signed up for. I love having a relationship with NBC and the Olympics because it works hand in hand. It's like it's a beautiful partnership when you see how we look together and how we go together. It's like holy macaroni, not holy matrimony.
Q. Mike, I'll direct this to you. I'm from the Philadelphia area. Philadelphia loves our underdog stories. What would you say is the biggest underdog story that fans should be looking out for? Either things that have happened or something that could be coming down the line.
MIKE TIRICO: That's a good one because usually we're paying attention to all the favorites. For a second there, we had the men's doubles luge today, which was an almost out of nowhere chance for a medal.
I'll give you one that felt like deja vu today was Ryan Cochran-Siegle of the United States. His mom won the gold medal in slalom in '72 in skiing, and RCS, as he's known, he was on the podium first, second, or third just very few times out of 69 events in the World Cup and the World Championships. In the Olympics he's 2 out of 3 getting on the podium, which is just a ridiculous ratio.
So the men's alpine team -- the women's alpine team has the top performers as you go through the World Cup season. The men's alpine team does not have that standout. But every Olympics it seems like somebody steps up, and RCS stepped up today. That's a great underdog story. A guy from Vermont whose mom won Olympic gold, he won silver four years ago, and he came back and followed up with silver. That's one small one.
I was trying to pull that Italy hockey team through for you there, a team that had no NHL experience against a Swedish team that had 1,800 -- or 18,000 NHL games played or something like that. We couldn't pull that off.
But that's the joy of the Olympics. Every morning you wake up, something happens that you had no idea was going to happen from some far off corner of the country or some far off corner of the world. That's the magic of these 17 days, 16 days of competition. You don't necessary have to know the individuals involved to get fully invested.
RCS was a perfect example of that today, and we'll find another one and dig him out or her out somewhere tomorrow.
SNOOP DOGG: I got one. I've got an underdog story. Can I say my underdog prediction? The Jamaican bobsledding team. I went in there with them, and let me tell you, them brothers are serious about what they do. That's the underdog story for me, the Jamaican bobsledding team. They ain't got no snow, no mountains, none of that. No bobsled, no skis, none of that, but I've got a feeling they're going to be the underdog story.
They cooked me some jerk chicken, and I sat down with them in their living room, and we powwowed to bow wow. They're going to be the underdog story. Trust me.
MIKE TIRICO: Was the jerk chicken good, Snoop?
SNOOP DOGG: Mike, it was so good I ate the bone. I was in there nibbling on the bone. I had to come and get the camera off me.
THE MODERATOR: Well, we can't top that, everybody. Thank you everyone for dialing in tonight. Please be sure to tune in for Primetime in Milan beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific tonight. Thank you for joining us.
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