Tag: NBC Sports

NBC Sports has the New York Jets near the bottom of their NFL power rankings

The New York Jets are in a lowly spot in the PFT power rankings.

The big concern about the New York Jets is being highlighted by NBC Sports in their NFL power rankings.

In their late-June power rankings update, Pro Football Talk and Mike Florio have the Jets at No. 25 in the NFL. That puts the Jets third in the AFC East rankings with only the Patriots (No. 31) worse in the power rankings.

Their reason, according to Florio, is because “They’re counting on way too many injured veterans to stay healthy.”

And while Jets fans may not like the ranking, it is a valid concern expressed by Florio. Is the ranking a bit too low? Maybe. But the concern is there.

Consider that last year, quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not make it out of the first quarter of the first game of the year without suffering a season-ending injury and it is clear the risk here. The Jets are rolling the dice that Rodgers can and will make it through the regular season in 2024 relatively unscathed.

Given that Rodgers has had a remarkably healthy NFL career for much of his 19 years in the league, it is a reasonable gamble by the Jets to assume that their quarterback can make it through the season and perform at a high level.

But, it is still a risk and a gamble, one upon which the whole season invariably centers on for the Jets.

Last year without Rodgers, the Jets finished 7-10 and with the second worst offense in the NFL.

Watch: Roger Maltbie, Gary Koch share special moment during 2024 U.S. Senior Open broadcast

The duo got together for an interview in the first round and it was priceless.

Get the tissues out.

Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie are names familiar to most golf fans who have watched any NBC Sports telecast over the last couple decades. The two haven’t worked full-time for the network since the end of 2022, but they returned in March for the 50th anniversary of the Players Championship, and fans loved seeing their faces on TV and listening to their analysis.

Well, the duo and good friends were together on TV again Thursday, this time in a bit different capacity. Koch qualified for this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island (the oldest player to ever do so at 71 years and 7 months), and Maltbie was walking around as an on-course reporter.

The duo got together for an interview in the first round, and it was priceless.

How could you not love that?

Report: NFLPA wants larger rosters for switch to 18-game season

The NFL wants to expand to an 18-game season, and NFL players are reportedly willing to accept it by expanding teams’ rosters:

It feels like it’s only a matter of time until the NFL expands its regular season again, having already made the switch from 16 games to 17. League commissioner Roger Goodell has already begun campaigning for it in public, suggesting the preseason could be trimmed down to just two exhibition games while adding another week to the regular season.

But it would take some concessions to convince the NFL players association to agree to this. NBC Sports’ Mike Florio reports that the NFLPA would ask for expanded rosters to accommodate another regular season game, going from 53 roster spots to 55 with 50 players active on game days as opposed to 48.

Florio adds that “greater freedom for teams to make practice-squad elevations” would be another priority. Right now teams are allowed to bring up two players from their practice squad each week, but only three times during the regular season. Expanding the regular season would add to the workload so it makes sense to have more players available on game days.

Whenever the season expands again (and there’s enough support, it seems, to make that a case of when rather than if) we’ll experience some big changes. Adding a second bye week has also been floated as a possibility. How teams build their rosters may change. But for now, all we do is parse through what’s being told to reporters and speculate. The season can’t expand until the current collective bargaining agreement expires in 2030, so there’s plenty of time to find a solution that makes both sides happy.

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IMSA and NBC Sports extend TV partnership

IMSA and NBC Sports have agreed to a multi-year extension of their media rights agreement, keeping NBC Sports as the home of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and other IMSA-sanctioned series. As part of the agreement, NBC Sports will present …

IMSA and NBC Sports have agreed to a multi-year extension of their media rights agreement, keeping NBC Sports as the home of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and other IMSA-sanctioned series.

As part of the agreement, NBC Sports will present 17 hours of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship coverage on the NBC broadcast network annually, nearly a 50% increase of broadcast network coverage per year from the prior agreement. Additionally, all WeatherTech Championship coverage will stream live on Peacock.

NBC Sports’ IMSA viewership has grown 37% in the past five years since acquiring media rights prior to the 2019 season. 2023 was NBC Sports’ most-watched season to-date (since 2019), delivering a 13% year-over-year viewership increase for its coverage on NBC and USA Network. Additionally, this year’s IMSA coverage on Peacock has seen roughly a 60% increase in total minutes streamed to-date vs. last year.

“Our partnership with NBC Sports has produced viewership increases for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship every year from our first year in 2019 through last season,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “We also have managed to deliver impressive audience growth on Peacock, which is an especially valuable platform for delivering live, flag-to-flag coverage of endurance races to our domestic race fans. We are thrilled to confirm not only an extension of our relationship with NBC Sports, but nearly a 50 percent increase in the number of hours on the NBC broadcast network beginning next year.”

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“We’re proud to continue our partnership with IMSA as the home of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its support series,” said Justin Byczek, SVP, Programming and Rights Management, NBC Sports. “From the Rolex 24 At Daytona to Petit Le Mans, fans will be able to enjoy every moment of IMSA’s high-quality, competitive racing across NBC Sports’ linear and digital platforms for years to come.”

NBC Sports’ 2024 IMSA coverage continues this weekend with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen on USA Network and Peacock.

Notre Dame Football: Shakeup Coming to NBC Broadcast Booth This Fall

Big News Regarding the Notre Dame on NBC TV Booth

The last two seasons have seen Notre Dame home football games on NBC announced by play-by-play voice Jac Collinsworth.

Collinsworth is a Notre Dame graduate and was an up-and-comer when named to succeed Mike Tirico, who left the booth to take over NBC’s Sunday Night Football call when legendary Al Michaels left for Amazon

According to Dan Marchand of The Athletic, Collinsworth is out for this fall and replacing him will be longtime NBC Sports voice Dan Hicks, who happens to be married to Notre Dame graduate and veteran sports reporter/anchor Hannah Storm.

According to the report Jason Garrett will remain as the color commentator for Notre Dame on NBC.

No offense to Collinsworth but going from Tirico to him felt like getting spit in the face.  Collinsworth didn’t scream “big time” in any capacity, something that is done by more flight miles and experience – not by having a known last name.

It’s been a decade since Johnny Miller’s last U.S. Open broadcast at Pinehurst. Here’s what he said

Miller in 2014: “I’m hoping Fox will do a good job of keeping it going.”


When Johnny Miller stepped down from the broadcast booth following the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, his body language seemed to convey that he understood this was likely the last time he’d call the national championship.

Miller, whose 1973 win at Oakmont is considered one of the most dramatic in light of a final-round 63 that saw him come from deep in the pack, was proud of the work he’d done on the event with NBC Sports. But since Fox Sports had inked a lucrative deal with the USGA, the 2014 event, which was won by Martin Kaymer, was expected to end NBC’s run with the tournament.

A Golfweek crew that included current senior writer David Dusek stopped Miller as he stepped down from the U.S. Open booth for the final time.

“The way I look at it, 20 years is a pretty dang good run,” Miller told Golfweek at the time. “I didn’t think we’d lose it because I thought we were doing really a good job, but money talks and Fox wanted to get into the golf business. It is what it is. We had a great run. If somebody would have said I could do 20 Opens I would have been very happy and I’m still happy.

“But I’m hoping Fox will do a good job of keeping it going.”

Fox did not, in fact, keep it going.

More: Q&A with former NBC golf lead analyst Johnny Miller

In 2020, the USGA announced that media rights for its championships moved back to NBCUniversal, breaking a 12-year deal with Fox Sports worth about $1 billion.

After COVID forced the USGA to move the dates of the 2020 U.S. Open from June to September, Fox Sports struggled to find the broadcast hours needed for the championship, USGA officials noted, given their additional commitments to the NFL, MLB and college football. Talks that began looking into how Fox Sports and NBC/Golf Channel might work together this year ultimately ended in NBC taking over entirely.

The current NBC Sports agreement runs through 2026, but Miller had already left the network in 2019 when the new deal was forged.

When pressed to recall some of his favorite U.S. Open moments in the booth, Miller talked about his first broadcast when Corey Pavin won the 1995 tournament at Shinnecock over Greg Norman, in which he called Pavin’s 4-wood approach on the 72nd hole the “shot of his life.”

And of course, Miller looked fondly back on Tiger Woods’ dominant victory at Pebble Beach in 2000. Miller knew Woods was clearly in his prime, but he told his NBC partner they were in for something even more special than anyone else anticipated.

“He had only played four holes and Dan Hicks said to me, ‘what do you think Tiger’s chances are?’ And I said, ‘I think he’s going to shoot a record score and win by a huge margin.’ And he looked at me like, what are you smoking?” Miller recalled.

Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay returning to full-time TV duties at NBC/Golf Channel, starting at U.S. Open

Bones is lightening his load once again.

Jim “Bones” Mackay is lightening his load once again – from 14 clubs in a PGA Tour bag to simply a microphone.

Sam Flood, the executive producer of NBC Sports and president of production, confirmed on a conference call with media that Bones is back full time as part of a multi-year deal.

“He will be part of NBC Sports for years to come as we’re going to partner for a long time with him,” Flood said.

Bones previously had been announced as part of the broadcast team for NBC Spots/Golf Channel’s coverage of the U.S. Open next week at Pinehurst No. 2, where he caddied for Phil Mickelson in the final group in 1999 and finished second as well as in 2005 and 2014.

“It’s great for me and I couldn’t be happier about the situation,” Bones said in a separate phone call with Golfweek. “In terms of where I am in my life this is the perfect scenario for me and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

Bones, 59, is regarded as one of the most popular and best caddies in the game. He spent a stretch of 25 years as caddie for Mickelson before joining NBC in 2017 as an on-course reporter and quickly becoming one of the best in the business in that role. He took a step back from his TV gig to join forces with Justin Thomas in September 2021. They won one title together – the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

2024 Players Championship
Justin Thomas and caddie Jim “Bones” MacKay look on from the 14th fairway during the second round of the 2024 Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Their partnership ended after the Valspar Championship in March. When Thomas had been off, Bones still did TV from time to time for NBC, including for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship last year, and he served as the lead analyst for the Tour’s Mexico Open, the first time an active caddie has ever filled that role.

“I’m going to do several (tournaments) this year,” said Bones of an NBC schedule that still includes the British Open, all three of the FedEx Cup Playoff events and late-season unofficial events such as the Hero World Challenge and PNC Championship. “It’s a bit TBD and will have a more well-established schedule the next few years.”

Bones said he’s game for whatever Flood and longtime NBC golf producer Tommy Roy, who first hired him for a tryout role at the 2015 RSM Classic, want him to do but he expects to contribute mostly as an on-course reporter. Asked whether he will still pursue caddying, he said, “Television is my No. 1 priority and I’ll do what I did before – if someone is sick or between caddies and needs a guy for a week and it’s not an NBC event, then I’d be happy to help out, but beyond that I will be doing TV primarily as far as what I do for a living.”

Notre Dame and USC to not be in primetime this year in LA?

Perhaps not under the lights in LA?

The way things look just under three months before the 2024 college football season kicks off, Thanksgiving weekend could be really important for Notre Dame.

If the Fighting Irish do what is expected and maneuver their first 11 games with no more than one loss, then that west coast trip to USC will almost certainly have College Football Playoff implications.

But could that game possibly not be played in primetime?

It’s hard to imagine but according to Brett McMurphy of Action Sports Network, NBC (who has broadcast rights to the game this year) seems to prefer a different West Coast matchup that night.

It’s a mistype as the Oregon vs. Washington game will be played at Oregon this year but interesting, nonetheless.

It doesn’t matter to me what time you put Notre Dame on and at times I agree with [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] that it’d be nice to get the Irish out of primetime as often as they are.

Notre Dame and USC is almost always played in prime time anymore.  In fact, since 2010, only the 2014 and 2016 meetings weren’t played in prime time and Notre Dame entered those regular season finales a combined 11-11 (7-4 in 2014, 4-7 in 2016).  It’ll be a big disappointment if the Irish enter that game with a record near either of those.

Oregon could realistically be wrapping up their first Big Ten regular season with a spot in the conference championship game on the line that night.  I understand the appeal there, and that NBC doesn’t seem to want to feature the same team in primetime on consecutive Saturday’s (USC is desired to be featured vs. UCLA the week before), but the added national audience Notre Dame with a playoff appearance on the line would bring will be tough to pass up.

Related: An Early Look at Notre Dame’s 2024 Football Schedule

How to watch the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open on NBC, USA, Peacock, Golf Channel

NBC, USA, Golf Channel and Peacock are teaming up for all the coverage.

The 2024 U.S. Women’s Open tees off Thursday at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

It’ll be the 79th rendition of the longest running women’s professional golf championship.

“When I was at media day here about a month ago, I used the number nine a lot,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan on Wednesday. “Nine years ago we were here at Lancaster Country Club. This is the 91st time the USGA has teed it up in the state of Pennsylvania, more than any other state in the country. And this is the 999th USGA championship since we began running championships in 1895.”

Here in 2024, the USGA is partnering with the NBC Sports family to bring 26 hours of live coverage on TV with NBC and USA and streaming on Peacock.

USA and Peacock will have 16 hours over the first two rounds with NBC taking over the main TV broadcast over the weekend.

U.S. Women’s Open: Leaderboard | Photos

Fans can also stream the action and get live leaderboards on uswomensopen.com and the USGA App.

All times listed below are ET.

Thursday, May 30

First-round featured groups, uswomensopen.com, USGA App, Peacock, 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Morning wave: Nelly Korda, Nasa Hataoka, Megan Khang, Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Jin Young Ko; afternoon wave: Lexi Thompson, Rose Zhang, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Yuka Saso, Hannah Green)

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

First round, Peacock, noon – 2 p.m.

First Round, USA, 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Friday, May 31

Second round featured groups, uswomensopen.com, USGA App, Peacock, 8 a.m. – 7:30 p.m. (Morning wave: Lexi Thompson, Rose Zhang, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Yuka Saso, Hannah Green; afternoon wave: Nelly Korda, Nasa Hataoka, Megan Khang, Lydia Ko, Charley Hull, Jin Young Ko)

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Second round, Peacock, noon – 2 p.m.

Second Round, USA, 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Saturday, June 1

Featured groups, uswomensopen.com, USGA App, Peacock, all day

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Third round, Peacock, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Third round, NBC, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 2

Featured Groups, uswomensopen.com, USGA App, Peacock, all day

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, Golf Channel and Peacock, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Final round, Peacock, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Final round, USA, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Final round, NBC, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, (Golf Channel and Peacock, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.

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Brandel Chamblee named lead analyst for NBC’s coverage of 2024 U.S. Open

Chamblee has been a staple of Golf Channel’s “Live From” show after the completion of play at the majors.

Brandel Chamblee recently compared trying to replace Johnny Miller as lead analyst on NBC Sports to following late comedian Robin Williams on stage.

“It’s just not going to look good no matter who you are because Johnny was a god at that role, and I think that was probably – it’s going to be troubling for anybody in that role,” he said in an interview with Golfweek in March.

Well, Chamblee will get to experience that feeling for himself as NBC announced on Monday that the 61-year-old Tour pro turned broadcaster will work alongside lead golf play-by-play voice Dan Hicks at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (No. 2 course) across NBC, Peacock and USA Network.

Mike Tirico will also work alongside analyst Brad Faxon in NBC’s four-man booth.

“This year we began utilizing an odd/even system of hole assignments for our commentator pairings,” said Sam Flood, executive producer and president, production, NBC Sports. “Our new approach lets our play-by-play announcers give more context for what’s happening, while creating more opportunities for our analysts and on-course reporters to engage with each other and break down the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ before and after each moment.”

Chamblee has been a staple of Golf Channel’s “Live From” show after the completion of play at the majors. Speaking in March, he said he wasn’t opposed to doing double duty.

NBC has been rotating broadcasters this season since deciding not to renew Paul Azinger’s contract.

NBC also announced that Jim “Bones” Mackay and Roger Maltbie will return as on-course reporters and Gary Koch will serve as an analyst. Mackay was lead analyst at the Mexico Open and worked on Golf Channel’s coverage of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. He and Justin Thomas parted ways in April, and he hasn’t hooked up as a caddie for a new player yet. Maltbie and Koch worked at the Players Championship in March during the opening two rounds.

In all, NBC will provide more than 200-plus hours of programming of the U.S. Open, held June 13-16.