NBC Sunday Night Football national anthem omission, Digi Mart USA News (Chicago, Illinois): NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast is often the highest-rated show on television, and the pregame coverage before kickoff effectively marks the start of the telecast. For that reason, viewers noticed when Sunday night’s broadcast skipped the national anthem before a game at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The omission came during a week in which the NFL was memorializing its Salute To Service campaign, three days before Veterans Day. According to the publisher’s account, after NBC’s booth introduction between analyst Cris Collinsworth and play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle, viewers saw a pregame interview with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
Before the broadcast showed an aerial view of the field, flag bearers were carrying a folded, field-sized American flag back into one of the stadium’s tunnels.
The publisher reported that it contacted NBC executive vice president of communications Greg Hughes and senior vice president of communications Chris McCloskey to ask why the national anthem was left out of the broadcast. Neither had responded as of publication.
The report noted that NBC did cover the trade of defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to the Bears and broadcast the “show anthem” featuring Carrie Underwood.
The publisher stated that the decision to broadcast the national anthem is generally made by the network rather than the NFL or the club, and that the omission therefore appears to be an editorial decision at NBC. Some viewers reportedly noticed the absence on social media.
The report also referenced an earlier anthem performance before a Bears game this season. On September 28, the Bears hosted Mariachi Herencia de Mexico to perform an instrumental mariachi version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” on ESPN/ABC’s Monday Night Football as part of the team’s Hispanic Heritage Month “Vamos Bears” celebration.
That performance met with mixed reactions. The publisher also noted that injured Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was shown pacing the sideline during the anthem at that game.
The publisher suggested that NBC may have tried to avoid offending anyone by not televising the anthem at all, but noted that the approach did not appear to work. This report is based on a single publisher article and has not been independently verified.
