Olympic Network NBC Vows Full RIO Coverage, Woes Included

Bob Costas and other top members of NBC’s Olympics coverage team veered between optimism and caution in predicting Rio de Janeiro’s ability to pull off a successful Summer Games and said NBC will cover the good and bad.

Bob Costas and other top members of NBC’s Olympics coverage team veered between optimism and caution in predicting Rio de Janeiro’s ability to pull off a successful Summer Games and said NBC will cover the good and bad.

Other Olympics have taken place without significant difficulties and he hopes it will be the same for Rio, Costas said Tuesday. But he then ticked off the daunting list of challenges faced by the Brazilian city.

It would be “naive” to think it isn’t grappling with security worries, pollution and political turmoil along with a deep recession that’s occurred since Rio won the Games, Costas said.

He spoke to TV critics from Rio by satellite, along with executive producer Jim Bell and correspondent Mary Carillo. The opening ceremony airs Friday on NBC, which is carrying the games on the air and online.

Whether any city can carry off the immense event is the question heading into virtually every Olympics, Bell said. Then the athletes arrive, the Olympic torch is lit and that is the story the network tells, he said.