History of NBC Sports in Timeline
NBC Sports is the sports programming division of NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast), responsible for sports broadcasts across NBC, its cable channels, and Peacock. Founded in 1939, it offers a wide variety of sports content, including college football and basketball, NASCAR, NFL, MLB, NBA, the Olympic Games, PGA Tour golf, Premier League soccer, Tour de France, and horse racing. Following Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, the NBC Sports Group was formed, consolidating cable sports networks under the NBC Sports umbrella.
May 17, 1939: NBC Sports Founded
On May 17, 1939, NBC Sports was founded as an American programming division for NBCUniversal, responsible for sports broadcasts across NBC's network, cable channels, and Peacock.
1972: NBC Televises the 1972 Winter Olympics
In 1972, NBC televised the 1972 Winter Olympics for the first time, expanding its Olympic coverage to include winter sports.
1980: NBC's Disappointment with the 1980 Summer Olympics
In 1980, NBC faced disappointment after winning the broadcast rights to the 1980 Summer Olympics, as the United States and other countries boycotted the event due to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, leading to scaled-back coverage and advertising revenue losses.
1988: NBC Televises the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul
In 1988, NBC televised the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Since then, it has branded itself as "America's Olympic Network", televising every Summer Olympic Games since the Seoul event.
1998: Dick Ebersol Named President of NBC Sports and Olympics
In 1998, Dick Ebersol was named president of NBC Sports and Olympics, marking a significant leadership change for the network's sports division.
2000: NBC Declines to Renew Broadcast Agreement with MLB
In 2000, NBC declined to renew its broadcast agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB).
2001: NBC Begins Broadcasting NASCAR and Obtains Rights to Horse Racing's Triple Crown
In 2001, NBC obtained the broadcast rights to horse racing's Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in a five-year deal. Starting in 2001, NBC, along with Fox and TNT, also began broadcasting the top two NASCAR series for six years.
2001: NBC Partners with WWF to Establish XFL
In 2001, NBC partnered with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to establish the XFL – a new football league with modified rules. NBC shared broadcast rights to the league's games, which were mainly held on Saturday nights, with UPN.
2002: NBC Televises 2002 Winter Olympics
Since the 2002 Winter Olympics, NBC has televised every Winter Olympic Games. In total, NBC has aired 13 Summer and Winter Olympics, the most by any one U.S. network.
2010: Viewership of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver
In 2010, the Winter Olympics in Vancouver were watched by a total of 190 million viewers, including 27.6 million viewers of the gold medal game in men's hockey, demonstrating the event's popularity.
July 3, 2011: ESPN Obtains Exclusive Broadcast Rights to The Championships, Wimbledon
On July 3, 2011, ESPN obtained the exclusive broadcast rights to The Championships, Wimbledon in a 12-year deal, thus ending NBC's television relationship with The Championships after 42 years.
January 2, 2012: NBC Sports Network Relaunch and Branding Redesign
On January 2, 2012, Versus relaunched as NBC Sports Network. NBC Sports also launched a comprehensive redesign of its branding, including a new on-air graphics design and an updated logo. This logo replaced a logo that had been in use since 1989.
March 18, 2013: NBC Sports and NBCSN Operations Move to Stamford, Connecticut
On March 18, 2013, most of the operations for NBC Sports and NBCSN began to be based out of a purpose-built facility in Stamford, Connecticut.
2014: Broadcast and Streaming of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi
During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, over 500 hours of the games were broadcast across five NBC-owned television channels. 1,000 hours were streamed digitally. In January 2014, the company announced exclusive digital-only streaming of the Olympics via NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app.
January 1, 2015: Refreshed Design for On-Air Graphics Introduced
On January 1, 2015, a refreshed design for on-air graphics was introduced, featuring a cleaner and brighter visual appearance for NBC Sports broadcasts.
June 7, 2015: NBC Sports Agrees to Deal to Televise The Open Championship
On June 7, 2015, NBC Sports and The R&A agreed to a twelve-year deal to televise The Open Championship, Senior Open Championship, and Women's British Open on NBC and Golf Channel, beginning in 2017, amid its loss of rights to the USGA's championships to Fox.
March 12, 2016: NBC Sports Broadcasts First Live Premiership Rugby Match
On March 12, 2016, NBC Sports broadcast its first live Premiership Rugby match, where London Irish hosted Saracens F.C. at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.
June 2016: NBC Sports Launches NBC Sports Gold
In June 2016, NBC Sports launched NBC Sports Gold, a suite of sport-specific over-the-top subscription services that would include expanded and overflow coverage of its properties.
July 15, 2017: Universal HD Relaunched as Olympic Channel
On July 15, 2017, NBCUniversal relaunched Universal HD as Olympic Channel to carry Olympic sports programming alongside its existing Olympic Games coverage agreement.
June 29, 2020: NBC Regains Rights to USGA Tournaments
On June 29, 2020, Fox sold the last seven years of its contract to air USGA tournaments to NBC, which meant that NBC regained the rights to the U.S. Open for the first time since 2015.
December 31, 2021: NBCSN Shut Down
On December 31, 2021, NBCSN was officially shut down, with its remaining programming rights transferred to other NBCUniversal platforms, particularly USA Network and Peacock.
April 6, 2022: NBC Sports Announces MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock
On April 6, 2022, NBC Sports announced a deal to broadcast a package of Sunday afternoon MLB games on Peacock, branded as MLB Sunday Leadoff, starting in the 2022 season.
July 1, 2022: NBC Sports Announces Shutdown of Olympic Channel
On July 1, 2022, NBC Sports announced that the Olympic Channel would cease operations as a linear channel on September 30, 2022.
August 18, 2022: NBC Sports Announces Deal to Carry Big Ten Conference Athletics
On August 18, 2022, NBC Sports announced a seven-year deal to broadcast Big Ten Conference college athletics across its platforms beginning in the 2023–24 academic season, including primetime college football on NBC and Olympic sports coverage on Peacock.
June 2023: NBC Sports Launches Free Ad-Supported Streaming Channel
In June 2023, NBC Sports launched a free ad-supported streaming channel.
2023: Peacock Streams Exclusive NFL Regular Season Game
Beginning with the 2023 NFL season, Peacock exclusively streams at least one regular season game per season. Most notably, Peacock exclusively streamed the Miami Dolphins–Kansas City Chiefs wild card playoff game during the 2023 season, driving 2.8 million sign-ups and averaging 23 million viewers.
June 27, 2024: NBC Sports and Big East Conference Announce Deal
On June 27, 2024, NBC Sports and the Big East Conference announced a six-year deal starting in the 2025–26 academic year. NBC Sports will broadcast more than 60 men's and women's basketball games. Peacock will begin its coverage in the 2024–25 academic year.
July 23, 2024: NBA Return to NBC Sports Confirmed
On July 23, 2024, Comcast confirmed the NBA would return to NBC Sports in the 2025–26 season under an 11-year agreement. NBC and Peacock will broadcast 100 regular season games, including games on Monday and Tuesday nights, and Sunday nights following the NFL season. Rights to the NBA Finals will remain exclusive to ABC. The agreement includes broadcasting rights to the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
August 3, 2025: NBC Updates Graphics for NASCAR Coverage
On August 3, 2025, NBC began using a dedicated graphics package specifically for NASCAR on NBC during the Iowa Cup Series race that aired on USA Network. This was the first graphics update for NASCAR coverage since its return a decade earlier.
October 7, 2025: NBC Debuts New Graphics Package for NBA Coverage
On October 7, 2025, NBC debuted a new graphics package for its NBA coverage.
November 13, 2025: NBCUniversal Announces NBCSN Relaunch
On November 13, 2025, NBCUniversal announced the relaunch of NBCSN starting November 17. The relaunched network will initially be available through YouTube TV and then Xfinity. The revived NBCSN is expected to carry most live events streamed on Peacock, including NBA Monday night games, Premier League matches, and college football and basketball.
November 19, 2025: NBC Sports Announces New MLB Broadcast Deal
On November 19, 2025, NBC Sports announced a new three-year deal to broadcast MLB games, including Sunday Night Baseball, Opening Day and Labor Day primetime games, MLB Sunday Leadoff, MLB Draft, All-Star Futures Game, and Wild Card Series games. The network plans to exclusively broadcast all games on July 5, dubbed Roadblock. Games will be streamed on Peacock and televised on NBC and NBCSN.
2025: Broadcasting Rights Moved to USA Sports
In 2025, broadcasting rights to numerous events under NBC Sports will be moved to USA Sports as a result of NBCUniversal spinning off most of their cable channels (including Golf Channel) to form Versant. These events may still air on NBCUniversal-owned channels and platforms after 2025.
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