The Summer Olympics opens in London with — what else? — the opening ceremony (5:30-10 p.m. on KUSA-9). London organizers have tried to dampen expectations that they can somehow top the spectacle we saw in Beijing.
We do know the theme is “Isle of Wonder,” that Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliott”) are the creative directors and that more than a billion people are expected to tune in around the globe.
And NBC’s Bob Costas will, no doubt, have a fun fact to accompany each of the more than 200 nations that are sending athletes to the Games.
Costas is nothing if not smooth, and he’s got more big-time, on-air experience than any other American broadcaster working these Games.
After serving as late-night host at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games, he has been the prime-time host of every Olympics since, including Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Turin, Beijing and Vancouver.
London Olympics opening ceremony by the numbers
How NBC has these Games covered:
2 helicopters
115 TV commentators
191 vehicles
300 camera positions
1,630 round-trip airlines reservations
5,535 total hours of NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the London Olympics
50,612 hotel room nights for NBC staffers
70,500 square feet of NBC’s London studios
HE SAID IT
“Nobody can know these 10,000-plus athletes and these 200-plus nations up and down. I do not know who the top platform diver from Peru is. If, in fact, it becomes necessary to know, the researchers will let me know.” — Bob Costas
