Taking a page out of its Olympic programming playbook, NBC Sports is teaming with owned and affiliated stations to present Super Bowl Zone, a Big Game preview on Saturday night.
The 30-minute program, produced by NBC Sports and featuring affiliate hosts, will air on Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and 6:30p.m. (CT/MT).
At presstime, nearly 150 NBC affiliated and owned stations are scheduled to run the Super Bowl Zone, which is co-hosted by NBC Sports commentators Carolyn Manno and Kathryn Tappen.
While Saturday will mark the first time NBC has put the Super Bowl Zone in play, the network has madeOlympic Zone, the 30-minute daily entry that runs during the Games, a hallmark of its quadrennial coverage with affiliates in recent years.
Super Bowl Zone will feature an interview between Football Night In America analyst Tony Dungy and Seattle Seahawks linebacker and Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith, as well as a feature with FNIA commentator Rodney Harrison and New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Other segments include NBC's recently elevated figure skating analysts Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski visiting Rawhide Western Town, an 1880s-style theme park in Phoenix, for an authentic Old West experience; Manno taking viewers inside the cockpit of an F-16 that will perform a pre-game flyover on Sunday; and Tappen checking out SuperFoos2015, a life-sized foosball rink in downtown Phoenix that allows people to participate as foosball players.
Super Bowl Zone serves as lead-in for a full night of NFL-related fare on NBC, which airs the title tilt on Sunday.
At 8 p.m (ET/PT) on Jan. 31, NBC will kick off a special edition of Saturday Night Live, “Saturday Night Live Presents A SNL Sports Spectacular," followed by the Peacock's presentation of the 4th Annual NFL Honors at 9 p.m.( ET/PT), hosted by Seth Meyers, host of Late Night with Seth Meyers. Awards include the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award and the AP Most Valuable Player award.
NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl XLIX begins at noon (ET) on Sunday, with the six-hour Super Bowl XLIX Pre-Game Show, preceding the NFL championship contest with live reports, in-depth features and interviews with players and coaches from the Seahawks and Patriots, and Xs and Os analysis from its roster of expert commentators.
