NBC races off with US Ski & Snowboard rights renewal

NBC Sports Group has retained media rights in the US market to events that fall under the auspices of US Ski & Snowboard in a renewal that runs until the end of the 2021-22 season.

Under the new agreement announced today (Tuesday), NBC Sports will offer over 40 hours of coverage of events across its NBC and NBCSN channels, along with the Olympic Channel, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and the subscription service NBC Sports Gold.

The deal extends an agreement that dates back to 1998. The latest contract was announced five years ago and ran from 2014-15 to 2018-19.

Events covered by the deal across the next three seasons include the men’s FIS Alpine World Cup event in Beaver Creek (Colorado) and the women’s stage in Killington (Vermont). The FIS Freestyle World Cup events in Copper Mountain (Colorado), Mammoth Mountain (California) and Deer Valley (Utah) are also included, along with the new Visa Big Air event in Atlanta and the FIS Cross Country World Cup in Minneapolis.

Tiger Shaw, U.S. Ski & Snowboard president and chief executive, said: “Our relationship with NBC Sports is a valuable platform to be able to share our sports and athletes with fans across the nation as they prepare for Beijing 2022.

“We have an amazing season ahead and between the HomeLight Killington Cup – which has drawn record numbers on the World Cup circuit in both attendance and viewership – as well as new events on the calendar like the Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover, and the FIS Coop Cross Country World Cup in Minneapolis, we have a big opportunity to share the excitement with the world through the eyes of NBC Sports.”

NBC is the long-standing broadcaster of Olympic skiing and snowboarding through its coverage of the winter Olympics. The broadcaster’s new $7.75bn (€6.9bn) Olympics rights deal, which runs from 2022 to 2032, kicks in with the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing.