Mike Tirico, the NBC primetime Olympics host, will be in Beijing for a shorter time than expected.
Monday night will be Tirico’s final show in Beijing. He’ll fly from China to NBC Sports’ offices in Stamford, Connecticut, on Wednesday and Thursday to host shows, then fly to Los Angeles on Friday to lead Olympic and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.
After that, Tirico will return to Stamford for the last week of Olympic coverage. The Games will end on February 20.
While Tirico is flying back, Maria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, will anchor the show on Tuesday night.
Tirico had planned to stay in Beijing until Thursday before heading to Los Angeles. Officials from NBC, on the other hand, have stated that his schedule is subject to change due to COVID-19 and other reasons.
The Olympics and Super Bowl are taking place at the same time for the first time. Tirico missed the Super Bowl four years ago because he was gearing up for his first Olympics as a primetime host in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
NBC’s announcers and hosts work out of the company’s headquarters in Connecticut. It only has a few reporters on the ground in China. Craig Melvin of NBC News is still in Beijing and will lead prime-time programming this weekend.
