NBC won’t be airing the U.S. track-and-field championship for the first time since 2006. The competition started today in Eugene, Oregon and will run until July 9. Sha’Carri Richardson is eyeing a podium finish in the women’s 100m and 200m races, which would qualify her for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in August.
The athlete is a favorite, as she recorded the fourth fastest time in history in the women’s 100m race at the Miramar Invitational meet on April 8. According to the Olympics, she has finished all her races under 11 seconds this season.
The 2023 USA Track and Field Championships is an essential milestone in reaching the world championship. The country’s top athletes, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Noah Lyles, are competing.
Richardson expressed her disappointment toward NBC for not broadcasting the competition.
“These companies continue to make it HARDER for track and field to have exposure!!! All they want is to continue to exploit sports!!!” she wrote in an Instagram story.
She isn’t the only athlete to react to the news.
“It hurts to see,” Noah Lyles said during a pre-meet press conference. On “Because we have had a long history with NBC, but I think it’s a situation where there was just a lot of conflict [with other events].”
Several athletes agree. Olympian Grant Holloway called out the decision for being a “money grab.” Track-and-field athlete Vashti Cunningham said it was “just silly,” while Canadian Olympian Anson Henry noted his confusion toward the news.
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The 2023 USA Track and Field Championships will be available to stream live on two pay services, Peacock TV and USATF.TV. CNBC will also be having two-hour nightly broadcasts from July 7.
The news surprises fans and athletes alike as NBC Sports Group bought exclusive media rights to the competition through 2024. According to Let’s Run, the agreement indicates that at least eight hours of live USATF events will be covered on the NBC broadcast network.
USATF CEO Max Siegel previously said his goal was to make track and field the fifth-most followed sport in the United States. Last year’s World Championships made a total of 18.7 million total viewers across all platforms. At the time, NBC reported it was the most-watched world championship in the country.
USATF released a statement in reaction to the most recent news.
“USA Track & Field’s High-Performance Team discussed potential dates for this event — based on the windows provided by World Athletics for national federations to hold their National Championships — with elite coaches and the USATF High-Performance Division Executive Committee (which includes representatives from the USATF Athletes Advisory Committee), and jointly determined that July 6-9 would be the best dates for this event for optimum performance at both National Championships and World Championships,” the statement read.
“This date created programming conflicts on the NBC broadcast network, including with the U.S. Women’s Open from Pebble Beach,” the statement continued. “NBC Sports continues to be a trusted partner and exceptional supporter of USA Track & Field. Fans can watch this year’s event on widely distributed CNBC and stream it on Peacock. USATF is also investing in the production infrastructure to stream all events outside of the CNBC window on USATF.tv, making this the first time the entire National Championships will be available live.”
