An earlier start
NBC has a gauntlet of premium live sports rights in early 2026, including the Super Bowl in the Bay Area, the Winter Olympics in Milan, and NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
NBC and the NBA have discussed starting the NBA All-Star Game at 5 p.m. Eastern next year, sources told Front Office Sports. This makes sense on several levels, both for the network and sports fans at large. Sunday’s All-Star Game started after 8 p.m. and didn’t finish until around 11 on the East Coast.
Next year’s All-Star game is scheduled in the middle of the Winter Olympics, but Milan is six hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern Time Zone, meaning even a 5 p.m. start would be after that day’s Olympic sports had mostly finished. The 2026 All-Star Game is set for Feb. 15, while the Olympics will be Feb. 6–22.
For the Paris Olympics last year, NBC showed all the marquee events live on NBC and/or the Peacock streaming service, with a news-and-highlights show recapping the day’s events airing in primetime. This program would air after the All-Star Game next year.