BEIJING, China — Mike Tirico won't be hosting Tuesday night's NBC prime-time Olympic coverage as he makes his way back to the United States from Beijing.
With NBC also hosting the Super Bowl this year, the network's plan was always to have Tirico return stateside and do some Olympic hosting from the U.S. before Super Bowl Sunday.
The network announced Monday Tirico will host Wednesday and Thursday's shows from the NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, before heading to Los Angeles on Friday to anchor Olympic and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.
Maria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last summer's Tokyo Olympics, will co-host Tuesday night's show with NBC News' Craig Melvin while Tirico is flying back. Taylor will be in Connecticut while Melvin is in Beijing throughout the Games.
After the Super Bowl, Tirico will then head back to Stamford for the final week of Olympic coverage. The Games conclude on Feb. 20.
This is the first year that the Olympics and Super Bowl are taking place at the same time. Four years ago, Tirico missed the Super Bowl as he was preparing for his first Olympics as prime-time host in Pyeongchang.
NBC has its announcers and hosts working out of its Connecticut headquarters. It has a limited group of reporters on the ground in China.
Many networks have had to reduce their on-the-ground presence in Beijing because of China's strict COVID measures.
Melvin will host “prime plus coverage” (which is late night in New York but prime time in Los Angeles) over the weekend.