Paris Olympics Coverage Kicks Off With Soccer, Rugby Matches

The Paris Summer Olympics opening ceremony takes place this Friday, but action kicks off Wednesday (July 24) with the opening stage of the soccer competition.

NBCUniversal's live coverage of the games on NBC , Peacock and USA Network, along with its celebrity-heavy lineup of shoulder programming, should help keep viewers tuned in throughout the three-week Olympics run, sports TV observers said.

USA Network and Peacock will feature the opening soccer match between Argentina and Morocco at 9 a.m. ET, with the U.S. men’s soccer team taking the Olympic pitch for the first time since 2008 when they face host country France at 3 p.m.

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In other Wednesday Olympics action, the men’s rugby tournament launches with live, daylong coverage of the qualifying round across Peacock and USA Network.

On Thursday, the three-time gold medal-winning U.S. women’s soccer team will open its 2014 Paris Olympics schedule against Zambia.

NBCUniversal’s live coverage of the Olympics across NBC, USA Network and Peacock — as well as NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app — should generate strong audience numbers throughout the three-week event, according to sports analyst Lee Berke. Peacock, in particular, will stream every sport and event, including all 329 medal events across 39 sports, according to NBCU.

“NBC has finally said if it’s live, it’s live, so they will be all live on the NBC broadcast network, all live on Peacock and USA Network,” he said. “The time zone is attractive, the setting is attractive and, by process of elimination, the only things people are watching on TV are sports and news. NBC saw great audience numbers for the Olympic trials, so its offering of live sports will be attractive to viewers.”

NBCUniversal is also looking to attract younger viewers through a series of shoulder programs featuring high-profile celebrities such as Snoop Dogg , who, along with serving as a torchbearer carrying the Olympic flame during the games’ opening ceremony, will provide on-air reports from the game. Other shows, such as Peacock’s eight-episode Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson series and the streaming service’s Watch With Alex Cooper live interactive watch party events, are expected to keep young viewers interested in the Games.

Berke also said the International Olympic Committee has continuously updated its roster of sports, adding events that appeal to younger viewers. The 2024 Paris Olympics will feature the sport of breaking — commonly known Stateside as breakdancing — a form of dance that originated in the Bronx during the early 1970s.

According to Olympics.com , breaking will feature dancers facing off in one-on-one battles to music randomly played by a DJ. The sport will debut in the Olympics on August 9 with 16 “B-Boys" and “B-Girls” competing in a round-robin phase consisting of four groups of four. The top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals and the medal round.

Breaking joins new sports added from the 2020 Tokyo Games, including surfing, skateboarding and sports climbing.

“Along with a strong U.S. men’s and women’s basketball team, the new sports that have been added will also help attract a younger demo,” Burke said. “[NBCU] is using a range of tactics to reach out to younger audiences in a very aggressive fashion compared to previous Olympics.”