NBC Olympics executive producer Solomon: “Tokyo Games will be the most meaningful in our lifetime”

NBC Olympics executive producer Molly Solomon informs that the U.S. network’s colossal Tokyo 2020 Olympic coverage will not ignore addressing the state of emergency, health concerns and Covid-19 countermeasures being implemented in the Japanese capital.

“You’ll see it in our very first broadcast in the opening ceremony in the evening and prime time – Lester Holt will set the stage and explain what exactly is happening, what is the state of emergency and what does that mean here locally and then how are the Olympics operating within that,” said Solomon, referring to the NBC News anchor, addressing media on a conference call.

“Our policy and our coverage of news has always been, how does that impact the athletes, how does it impact the Games, how does it touch the Games going forward? As news around any of these issues comes up, of course, we will cover it.”

Solomon boldly predicts that the Tokyo Games will be unlike any previous Olympic Games.

“As the world emerges from these challenging times, we really believe the Tokyo Olympics will be the most meaningful games in our lifetime,” said Solomon, who is working her 11th Olympics with NBC. “And we’ve got some once-in-a-generation athletes and some incredibly compelling storylines.”

“We also are following the strict and rigorous pandemic protocols that the IOC and the Japanese government have put in place, so we’re fully confident that we can responsibly produce these Games,” Solomon noted.

Veteran NBC swimming analyst and three-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines says he doesn’t have any trepidation about doing his job despite the Covid-19 health concerns.

“I have zero anxiety and I sincerely mean that — and I have no knowledge of anything on the ground there — I know Molly’s reconfirmed everything’s going to be great so we’re looking forward to it,” said Gaines, noting that he has spent extensive time in Japan working for a Japanese company from 1989 to 1996.

“If anybody can pull this off and make sure that all the athletes are accounted for and everything is safe, it will be the Japanese people, the IOC, the JOC, so I’m completely confident in my safety,” said the U.S. swimming legend.

NBC Universal plans to air more than 7,000 hours of coverage across TV and its digital platforms – a U.S Olympic record. NBC’s reduced staff on the ground in Tokyo numbers roughly 900.

The July 23 Opening Ceremony will be shown live in the morning to the U.S. audience with a tape-delayed broadcast in primetime. Solomon notes that the American delegation, which exceeds 600 athletes, will be reduced to approximately 200 due to both countermeasures and athletes arriving to Tokyo just prior to their events.

“We’re confident that, with theatrical lighting and the creative and it’s in the evening here in Tokyo, there will be some really spectacular moments,” Solomon says. “This really is an amazing moment when the world truly comes together for the very first time as we begin to emerge from some really, really challenging times.”

No Fake Fan Noise

Solomon also informed, considering that all events will be contested without fans at the venues, NBC will not enhance its coverage with artificial crowd noise in its audio mix. However, she says that sounds of the athletes and competitions will be heightened unlike ever before.

“NBC and OBS, which is the Olympic Broadcasting Service, which produces the world feed, we’ve been preparing for this potential outcome for some time,” Solomon said.

“We believe there’s an opportunity to bring viewers closer to the action than ever. And it’s sports like swimming, gymnastics, track, basketball, beach volleyball, you’re going to hear the sounds of the games like you’ve never heard them before — from the thrashing and splashing in the pool to those intimate conversations between competitors and coaches.”

While NBC will not add artificial audio, Salomon noted that OBS and venue sport producers are experimenting with injecting some noise through the PA systems, so that athletes are not competing in silence without any crowd murmur.

The IOC and OBS, working with Tokyo 2020 and Olympic broadcast partners (RHBs), have created a suite of digital tools as part of the “Share the Passion” project. It will allow athletes to engage with friends and family in the venues and allow fans all over the world to be actively involved in supporting their sporting heroes.

One of the tools is called Cheer Map. It is a virtual “cheer” button embedded on several broadcasters’ digital platforms. Fans can watch the broadcast feed of an Olympic event and virtually clap or cheer by clicking the button. The system collects all the cheers and renders a global map of “cheer activity”. The map is sent as a video stream to broadcasters and showcased on venue video boards.

Pivoting for Feature Stories

Despite the pandemic and severe restrictions on international travel over the past 16 months, Solomon says that NBC still managed to shoot and produce some “up close and personal” features focused on international athletes, that have been a staple of American Olympic TV coverage for decades.

“That’s been really complicated, but I’m really proud of the team and how we’ve really pivoted,” Solomon said. “We’ve been working, for example, with a lot of the world broadcasters like the BBC and others in order to get the coverage and the profiles of the different international athletes.

“Luckily, we went down to Australia a couple of years ago so we have a really amazing piece on Ariarne Titmus that helps frame the USA-Australia swimming rivalry.

“We also found a way to get into Russia over the past two months because Nikita Nagornyy is a huge story that first weekend,” she said referring to the superstar Russian gymnast.

The veteran NBC lead producer informs that despite restrictive measures for broadcasters and media in Tokyo, including limited access to athletes and movement around the city, the network will still highlight the Japanese capital, its sporting history and culture as much as possible.

“Mary Carillo traveled to Tokyo two and half years ago, so we do have some profiles and sense of place that we will use,” Salomon said, referring to the veteran NBC Olympics reporter and tennis analyst.

“There’s also the Japanese baseball tradition, a terrific piece. There’s some pieces on Peacock [NBC’s streaming service] that reflect Japan and the cultural ties to the United States.

Those will all still be a part of it.”

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli