The Today show team of Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Meredith Vieira will host NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Summer Olympics on Friday, August 5.
This will be Lauer’s 11th Olympics for the Today show, and the 5th time he’s hosted the Opening Ceremony. This is Vieira’s third Opening Ceremony and Guthrie’s first.
“This year, because it’s in Rio, you know it’s going to be a party like no other,” said Jim Bell, executive producer of NBC Olympics, and former ep of Today. “With Matt, Meredith, and Savannah, we’ve got the perfect team on hand to capture what will be a once in a lifetime atmosphere for our viewers.”
40 million, the most-ever for an Olympic Opening Ceremony on U.S. TV, tuned in for the 2012 London opener which was hosted by Lauer, Vieira and Bob Costas. You may recall it was just before the London Summer Games that Ann Curry was replaced as co-anchor of Today.