The network plans to devote nearly the entire day on Friday, July 23, to the Opening Ceremony of the coronavirus-delayed Summer Olympics. With Tokyo 13 hours ahead of New York and 16 ahead of Los Angeles, the opening ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. in Japan, which is 7 a.m. ET and 4 a.m. PT. The ceremony will be followed by a special edition of the Today show and a three-hour preview of the Summer Olympics, followed by a re-airing of the Opening Ceremony in primetime. "I think like so many of us, people’s lives have changed. And after we had all been locked down for a few months, the postponed Olympics, and its meaning, I think became very clear that it will be an incredibly moving moment in sports and in the world when the world comes together,” said Molly Solomon, the executive producer and president of NBC Olympics. “We recognized we had to make our production plans be equal to the challenge of these unprecedented challenging times. And that meant a live opening ceremony and an enhanced primetime broadcast where most of the folks will gather to watch it." NBC hasn't decided who will host the Opening Ceremony.
TOPICS: Summer Olympics, NBC, Molly Solomon, NBC Sports