NBC adds Lindsey Vonn to roster for Sochi Olympics coverage

While we may not be covering too much of the athletic portion of the Sochi Olympics next month on NBC, we are at least going to be looking at the television aspect of things.

With that in mind, let’s announce the following news that for the next big games, there is going to be a particularly noteworthy announcer for much of the skiing coverage on the network: Lindsey Vonn. The gold medalist, who was forced to drop out of the games due to injury, will serve as a special correspondent to both NBC Sports and “Today” during their coverage throughout the upcoming month. Vonn is clearly qualified to talk about both her sport and the overall Olympic experience, and we see a similar comparison being to when ESPN hired Tim Tebow to work on some college football games. Both are athletes with a great deal of success, though with Tebow we’re talking more about college than in the pros. They also happen to be people with a huge persona in the public eye, with Vonn’s spotlight in particular skyrocketing thanks largely to her relationship with Tiger Woods.

The Olympics officially start up on February 7, and will run through the 23rd. While NBC will have liver coverage throughout their family of networks, they are doing something very similar here to what they did with their coverage of the London Summer Games: Putting together a package for primetime, which is when everyone will be home to actually watch the competitions. We get it that some people hate it, but from a business perspective, it’s very smart to hit viewers when they are around.

We’ll have more coverage of the Games from a TV standpoint over the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Also, sign up now to get some more great TV scoop via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC