NBC and NBC Sports Network to Provide 13 Hours of Long and Short Track Speedskating Coverage
MAY 15, 2013 – New York and Kearns, Utah – US Speedskating, in collaboration with the United States Olympic Committee, announced today that for the first time ever the 2014 U.S. Speedskating Olympic Trials will air on both network and cable television with 13 hours of coverage across NBC and NBC Sports Network. The Olympic Trials will select the 2014 U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team, which will represent Team USA in Sochi, Russia.
“US Speedskating is the most decorated Olympic winter sport in the United States with more than 85 Olympic medals. Having our 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials televised on NBC and NBC Sports Network are outstanding platforms on which to showcase the team we’ll be sending to compete at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia,” said US Speedskating President Mike Plant.
NBC Sports Group will provide 13 hours of coverage over the 11-day event. The U.S. Olympic Trials for long track speedskating will be held from Dec. 27, 2013, through Jan. 1, 2014, followed by the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for short track speedskating, which will take place Jan. 2-5, 2014. Both events will be held at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah. The full 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Speedskating will be released at a later date.
“We are excited to present the speedskating Olympic Trials for the first time,” said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics. “Our extensive coverage gives fans a head start to follow the U.S. Olympians as they prepare for Sochi 2014.“
A total of 30 athletes will be named to the 2014 U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team, with skaters securing a coveted spot on nearly every telecast.
The 2014 Olympic Winter Games will be held Feb. 6-23 in Sochi, Russia. Speedskating events will be held in the coastal cluster – located at the center of the Olympic Park – with short track events taking place at the Iceberg Skating Palace and long track events being contested at Adler Arena.
About US Speedskating
US Speedskating is a non-profit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union as the governing body for the sport of speedskating in the United States. Its mission is to be one of the premier speedskating organizations in the world through excellence in leadership, development and performance. To date, US Speedskating has won 85 Olympic medals, making it the most successful winter sport in the U.S. In addition to its elite programs, US Speedskating is responsible for the grassroots development of speedskating.
About NBC Olympics
A division of the NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history.
Having produced every Summer Olympics since Seoul in 1988 and every Winter Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002, the networks of NBCUniversal are synonymous with the Games in the United States. In 2011, NBCUniversal acquired the U.S. media rights on all platforms to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the conclusion of the 2020 Games, NBCUniversal will have presented 17 total Olympic Games and 11 consecutive, the most for a U.S. media company in both categories.
NBC has won an unprecedented 93 Emmy Awards for its Olympics coverage, as well as a prestigious Peabody Award for its presentation of the Beijing Opening Ceremony in 2008, which USA Today said was “the best overall Olympic experience ever provided by a U.S. network.”
In addition to its unsurpassed heritage and award-winning production, NBCUniversal is known for aggregating large Olympic audiences, as nine of the top 11 most-watched U.S. television events of all time are Olympic Games presented across the networks of NBCUniversal. The 2012 London Olympics rank No. 1 with over 217 million viewers.
For more information on NBC Olympics’ coverage of the London Olympics, please visit: http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/
For US Speedskating
Tamara Castellano
Cell: 435.901.3396
Office: 801.417.5360
