As of 2023[update], race coverage is helmed by, among others, host Mike Tirico, along with analysts Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey, handicappers Eddie Olczyk and Britney Eurton, reporters Kenny Rice, Donna Barton Brothers, Ahmed Fareed and Nick Luck and track announcer Larry Collmus.
[3] NBC subsequently announced plans to also broadcast select races from the Breeders' Cup Challenge series throughout the year.
Some believe the move was a result of the New York Racing Association's decision to break ranks with the other two tracks on a television contract.
Triple Crown Productions was formed in 1986 with ABC; prior to that, the individual racing associations reached their own deals with television networks.
On January 5, 2022, it was announced that Fox Sports would acquire the media rights to the Belmont Stakes starting in 2023, in a deal that lasts until 2030.
[6] In 1981, NBC's SportsWorld broadcast the Arlington Million,[7] the first thoroughbred race to feature a million-dollar prize payout.
Dick Enberg hosted the broadcast alongside analyst Michael O'Hehir In 2017, NBC began to carry coverage of Royal Ascot, the most significant meet in British thoroughbred racing.
[10] Tom Hammond's tenure at NBC began in 1984, when he was named as a co-host of the inaugural Breeders' Cup, alongside Dick Enberg.
Hammond was intended to host that year's race, however NBC executives were so impressed with his performance, that he ended up getting a long-term contract.
However, even with the short amount of time between the Derby and his operation, Hammond managed to get healthy enough to make his dream of broadcasting his home state's most famous sporting event become a reality on May 5, 2001.