Behind The Mic: NBCUniversal Continues to Stack Host and Announcer Coverage for the 2024 Paris Olympics
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, including new deals, departures, and assignments compiled from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week’s edition: John Sterling retires from Yankees booth after 36 seasons; Ari Chambers joins Andscape; and more.
Former Soccer Player Isabella Echeverri Joins Telemundo Deportes as Soccer Analyst
Isabella Echeverri joins Telemundo Deportes’ commentary team as a network soccer analyst, starting last weekend for Premier League’s Everton v. Nottingham Forest on Saturday, April 21 on Telemundo. The former Colombian professional footballer returns to the network after her debut performance during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 where she captured the hearts of the U.S. Hispanic audience with her expertise, insights and passion for the game.
“We are delighted to welcome Isabella Echeverri to the Telemundo Deportes family,” says Eli Velazquez, EVP of Sports, Telemundo. “Her wealth of experience as a professional soccer player, combined with her passion for the sport, makes her a valuable addition to our team of experts. We look forward to her contributions in delivering top-notch soccer coverage to our viewers.”
In her new role as soccer analyst, Echeverri will support the network’s coverage of Premier League, USSF and Chivas Femenil, while her duties will continue to expand across Telemundo Deportes’ roster of premier global events, including the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as well as the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Women’s World Cups later this year.
As a soccer analyst for Telemundo, Echeverri will provide viewers with expert commentary, analysis, and in-depth insights into the game. Her unique perspective as a former player will offer audiences valuable perspectives on strategy, player dynamics, and the intricacies of soccer matches.
“Female representation in media opens the door to endless opportunities for girls and women. Today, I have the privilege of becoming the voice of millions of Latina women who love soccer,” says Echeverri, network soccer analyst, Telemundo. “It is a responsibility that I assume with pride and determination. I am honored to be able to transmit my greatest passion through Telemundo Deportes and am very happy to be joining this great family!”
Born in Medellín, Echeverri played as a center back for the Colombia women’s national team, Sevilla FC and CF Monterrey. She is a FIFA legend and has participated in every international competition at the club level and with the Colombian national team, including Copa Libertadores, Champions League, the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, among others.
Before joining Telemundo full-time, Echeverri has actively worked to positively impact gender equality in sports. She has been at the forefront of changing the gender landscape for the next generation in Latin America. She is a member of the FIFPRO GPC Global Council, ambassador for the Save The Dream Academy, Common Goal member and co-founder of the “Somos 4 Futbol” foundation, which aims to improve the quality and reach of gender promotion through football programs in Latin America. One of her most powerful off the field initiatives was the #MenosMiedoMasFutbol movement that aimed to raise awareness for better conditions inside the Colombian Football Federation.
Noah Eagle to Call Team USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball for NBCUniversal’s Coverage of Olympic Games Paris 2024
Following this morning’s USA Men’s National Team roster reveal by USA Basketball, NBC Sports announces that Noah Eagle will serve as the play-by-play voice for Team USA men’s and women’s basketball games and medal round competition at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris this summer. NBC Sports’ analysts and reporters for these games will be announced in the coming weeks.
Team USA games (and the medal rounds) will be presented across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network, with specific platforms to be announced at a later date.
“Noah has excelled on many high-profile events, including as our lead Big Ten voice, and NBA and college basketball games. We are excited to hear him call Team USA’s quest for gold in both the men’s and women’s tournaments this summer,” says Rebecca Chatman, Vice President and Coordinating Producer, NBC Olympics Production.
“I’m honored to be a part of the coverage for Team USA’s pursuit of gold on the hardwood. Both the men’s and women’s sides are loaded with star power and some of the most elite coaches the sport has ever seen,” Eagle says. “With the incredible NBC Olympic team alongside, I can’t wait for that first game to tip off.”
LeBron James and Stephen Curry will play together for the first time for Team USA, which opens play on Sunday, July 28 (vs. Serbia), while the U.S. women’s team (roster to be announced at a later date) tips off its slate the next day, Monday, July 29 (vs. Japan). With the sport’s continued rapid growth globally, this summer’s basketball tournaments are expected to have the deepest pool of talented players and most competitive fields in any Olympics.
Team USA basketball will be Eagle’s second NBC Olympics assignment, as he called 3×3 Basketball three years ago for the Tokyo Olympics. This past NBA season, he called select Brooklyn Nets games for YES Network and previously served as the radio voice of the Los Angeles Clippers for four seasons.
Eagle, who last week earned a Sports Emmy nomination following his first season as the play-by-play voice of the Big Ten Saturday Night football package on NBC and Peacock, handled Big Ten men’s basketball on Peacock this past season. He also called a 2023 NFL regular season game for NBC Sports and worked on the Sports Emmy-nominated NFL Playoffs on NBC/Peacock in January and Nickelodeon’s telecast of Super Bowl LVIII in February.
John Sterling Retires From Yankees Radio Broadcast Booth At Age 85 In 36th Season
John Sterling, the hyperexcitable New York Yankees broadcaster known for decades of indelible, personalized home run calls, announced his immediate retirement Monday at age 85. Sterling made the unexpected decision a few weeks into his 36th season as the Yankees’ radio play-by-play voice. He had cut back his schedule in recent years and was not with the team for its current trip to Cleveland and Toronto.
He called 5,420 regular-season games, the last against the Blue Jays on April 7, plus 211 postseason games. Sterling broadcast 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 through July 2019 after starting with the Yankees as a pregame host. Sterling will be honored in a ceremony before Saturday’s game in the Bronx against Tampa Bay.
Multimedia Women’s Sports Journalist Ari Chambers Joins Andscape
Ari Chambers, a renowned women’s sports multimedia journalist and a 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, has joined Andscape as a commentator and sports culture talent for the Black content studio. Chambers will play a pivotal role in Andscape’s coverage of women’s sports, including the WNBA, Women’s NCAA Basketball, tennis, gymnastics, the NWSL, and the U.S. Women’s National Team.
The new Andscape commentator will amplify her reach by contributing to a myriad of ESPN linear, digital, and social media platforms, and espnW, the ESPN global multiplatform brand dedicated to engaging and inspiring women through sports. Chambers will make her Andscape debut tonight in Brooklyn, N.Y., covering the much-anticipated 2024 WNBA Draft at the historic Brooklyn Academy of Music. During the WNBA Draft, she will also take over espnW’s Instagram handle for access-driven social media storytelling.
Chambers’ inaugural assignment at the 2024 WNBA Draft marks the beginning of Andscape’s strategy to harness her influence in women’s sports coverage, showcasing her work not only within its own expansive footprint but also across ESPN’s leading platforms.
“We’re excited Ari is joining Andscape at this watershed moment for women’s sports. Her expertise as an emerging and trusted voice for women in sports will elevate our content in that space,” says Jason Aidoo, Vice President, and Head of Andscape. “Ari’s voice resonates with younger, multi-cultural, and non-traditional sports fans. We will key into that at Andscape and across ESPN.”
Chambers is joining Andscape from Bleacher Report where she founded and launched highlightHER in 2019. Through highlightHER, Chambers told the stories of inspiring women athletes and built a community that rapidly grew to more than 250,000 Instagram followers. At Bleacher Report, she consistently delivered a blend of news, highlights, user-generated content, and engaging interviews featuring renowned female athletes, all centered on the world of women’s sports.
Chambers says, “I’m THRILLED to join Andscape and ESPN. My mission is to elevate storytelling at the nexus of women’s sports and culture, and I believe there is no better place to do that. I look forward to joining the great Andscape family and representing women’s sports at ESPN comprehensively, with intention and passion.”
Over her career, Chambers has dedicated her efforts to grassroots coverage and utilized non-traditional media vehicles to close the coverage gap for women’s sports. She coined the phrase THE WNBA IS SO IMPORTANT which became the tagline for Twitter Sports’ WNBA 25th Anniversary campaign. Chambers has been a reporter for the WNBA and NCAA women’s basketball, covering multiple WNBA All-Star games, NCAA Women’s Final Fours, and several ACC Women’s Basketball Tournaments. She has served as Connecticut Sun’s in-arena host, WNBA’s digital news host and host of “Off Top,” WNBA League Pass series, host for the WNBA’s Her Time to Play, and others.
Chambers obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media Studies from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. She has received numerous plaudits, including Sports Illustrated’s 100 Influential Women in Sports (2022), Dawn Staley Excellence in Broadcasting Award (2022), Black Enterprise’s 40 Under 40 (2023), The CCNYC Creative Class (2022), The Athletic’s 40 Under 40: Rising Stars in Women’s Basketball (2021), and Yahoo’s Changemakers (2021).
Jimmy Fallon and Mike Tirico Team up to Host NBCUniversal’s Closing Ceremony Coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024
With the countdown to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 underway, NBC Sports has unveiled its team to close out the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris this summer. Jimmy Fallon, Emmy Award-winning host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, will join two-time Sports Emmy Award-winner and NBC Olympics primetime host Mike Tirico to host NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Closing Ceremony of the Games. Joining Jimmy and Mike will be Terry Gannon, 1998 Nagano Olympic figure skating gold medalist Tara Lipinski, and two-time Olympian in figure skating, Johnny Weir, who will be calling their fourth Closing Ceremony together.
NBC and Peacock will present live coverage of the Closing Ceremony from the Stade de France, the country’s national stadium, on Sunday, August 11, beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
“We are excited for Jimmy to make his official Olympic debut in an iconic setting at the biggest party in the world with Mike, while Terry, Tara, and Johnny return to provide a fashionably fun take on the pageantry and parade of athletes who competed in Paris,” says Molly Solomon, Executive Producer and President, NBC Olympics Production.
Fallon will make his Olympics debut as a commentator this summer in Paris, 10 years after The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon launched during the second week of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Fallon has contributed to prior NBC Olympics presentations, beginning in Vancouver in 2010, when he performed at the Whistler Mountain skiing venue medals plaza.
Tirico, who will host his fourth Opening Ceremony this summer, has been honored with the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Host in each of the last two years, highlighted by his role as primetime host of the Beijing Olympics (2022) and Tokyo Olympics (2021). Tirico also hosted the PyeongChang Opening Ceremony in 2018 and the Closing Ceremony for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
On the March 12 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Tirico appeared on the show alongside Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning to announce the trio as hosts of the Opening Ceremony. At the end of the segment, Tirico surprised Fallon with an invitation to join him as co-host of the Closing Ceremony and Fallon accepted.
“Is this real?” Fallon asked when offered the invite by Tirico, who assured him that it was in fact real. Fallon: “I’m in! I’m going to do it!” During the following night’s broadcast, Fallon confirmed: “It’s real. It’s happening. I’m headed to Paris. I’m going to co-host the Olympics Closing Ceremony this summer.”
Gannon, Lipinski, and Weir – who called the past three Olympic Winter Games figure skating competitions and NBC Sports’ top skating events – previously served as NBCU’s Closing Ceremony hosts for PyeongChang, Tokyo, and Beijing. Gannon will also call gymnastics in Paris for the second straight Games.
In Paris this summer, the world’s greatest athletes will compete against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world where the modern Olympic Games were conceived 130 years ago. This will be the third time Paris has hosted the Olympics (1900 and 1924), tying London for the most as a Summer Games host. Los Angeles (1932, 1984) will tie those two cities when it hosts the first Summer Games in the U.S. in 32 years in 2028.
The organizers of Paris 2024 are reimagining the Games to make them more accessible to the public and to showcase their city to the world. In a first, competitions will be held amidst iconic Parisian landmarks – beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, equestrian at the Palace of Versailles, and urban sports at Place de la Concorde.
Last May, NBCU announced that the NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock will be the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11.
NBCU owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). The host city for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games has not yet been chosen.
WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston Joined ESPN’s Women’s NCAA Championship Studio Coverage
ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship continued to elevate to new heights, as WNBA All-Star and former South Carolina Gamecock great Aliyah Boston joined the desk for ESPN’s studio programming live from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
“It is a dream to be a part of such a special weekend and I’m so glad that God has opened this door for me. I could not be happier to join this incredible team,” Boston said. “As a player there was no bigger thrill than the Final Four. I’m really excited to return, share my experience, and shine a light on the amazing players we’ll see take the court in Cleveland.”
Boston – a 2022 NCAA National Champion and top pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft – teamed up with host Elle Duncan, Hall of Famer Carolyn Peck, Sports Emmy nominee Andraya Carter and WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike on the championship weekend desk.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome such a legend to our set,” said Sara Gaiero, ESPN’s vice president of production. “Aliyah will bring great energy to our already stellar crew, and we cannot wait to watch what she brings to our coverage as someone who won the National Championship just two years ago.”
