This year marks 25 NBCth production of Kentucky derby And the first race for roses since 2021 for Polarising Trainer BOB BAFFETwhich returns this weekend after having served a three-year suspension. The 72 -year -old man treated six derby winners, including two horses who won the Triple Crown – the American Pharaha in 2015, and barely justified three years later – and although Buffete is undoubtedly that the story of Churchill Downs, NBC, the NBC broadcast team did not plan to run the story of the Prodigal Son on Saturday.
“In a race where the favorite is” journalism “, we will absolutely do our game,” said Mike Tirowhich will anchor the cover of the NBC derby for the ninth time. Addressing journalists at a conference call on Tuesday afternoon, NBC Sports“ Swiss Army Knife said that although Derby Day is “not probably the … time to tell the entirety in history, “he and his colleagues will not move away from the Baffert affair.
“It will not be a constant drum for the five hours, but if you look at the cover, you will understand the prospect,” said Tirico.
Baffert and Medina Spirit were stripped of their 2021 derby title after the horse failed a post-post-post drug test. While Baffet denied that he or someone else of his team administered the Betamethasone prohibited substance to the foal, the officials prohibited him from the track while waiting for the outcome of an investigation into the way the steroid found his way in the mind of Medina.
Baffert wrote its suspension to “cancel cultureA complaint that took grotesque connotations in December of the same year, when Medina Spirit died of an apparent heart attack after a training session. Medina Spirit was stripped of the title two months after her death; During the intermediate period, Churchill Downs gave the horse trainer a multi -year suspension. The ban was lifted last July.
Tirico will sit with Baffert for an interview which will be broadcast during the coverage before the NBC race.
“Bob Baffert is still, I would say, the most recognizable figure in the Casse sport,” said Lindsay Schnazer, senior producer of NBC Sports. “It is a major title in Kentucky Derby this year and it is absolutely a story that we will tell.”
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Schnazer added that most of them from Derby viewers Are not necessarily bastard lovers, NBC “will certainly spend a little time informing the public why this (ban) was in place and why Churchill Downs adopted (slack) the return to this stage.”
The return to slave to the derby could help attract even more researchers of curiosity to NBC, which served the most public television public last year since 1989. The part of the broadcasting race on average 15.97 million viewers, and 714,000 others broadcast the action via Peacock. Thank you in part to a photo of three and a healthy elevator outside, the cover of the NBC derby was the 101st most watched program of 2024. (Nielsen's de Nielsen Recent expansion of its ooh coverage should only be used for this year's deliveries.)
NBC has covered the derby every year since 2001 and will do so until at least 2032, after the extension of last year's rights. The network reserves approximately 35 million dollars in advertising revenue during the afternoon, thanks to the generosity of sponsors such as Woodford Reserve, Ford and White Claw.
Last year, 156,710 people and their complicated hats made their way through the turnstiles in Churchill Downs, up 6% compared to 147,294 in 2023. Attendance at the derby culminated in 2015, because 170,513 assists were bought.
Because journalism is the favorite of the ratings at 3-1, the appelter of racing Larry Collmus has cut itself off to give a little more rotation in the name of the horse if it is crossing the finish line before the rest of the field. Collmus said he had saved some ideas for a call on the theme of journalism in the application of notes of his iPhone, before adding that he “did not want to be too scripted” before the event. “You want to have something there in case something like it happens, but … getting the 20 horses is the most important thing,” he said.
In a little synchronicity, journalism will compete on Saturday against Publisher, a longshot of 20-1. Journalism shares a father (curlin) with a five -year -old Kentucky foal named Crupi (No relationship). Buffet formed two of the contenders for this year, Citizen Bull (12-1) no doubt giving him his best blow to a seventh derby.
