Once Snoop Dogg waded through the electrical cables on the floor and strolled his lanky frame around the messy equipment in a partially constructed television studio in Paris, he was able to peer over a balcony overlooking the Eiffel Tower and survey the city he hopes to conquer during the Olympics.
“This is my home,” he said triumphantly. Below, a few people were holding up their phones.
The man NBCUniversal hopes will become the star of the Paris Games was exactly where he wanted to be.
The Olympics are always about the athletes, and as usual, the focus this year will be on the brightest among them: Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Noah Lyles, Novak Djokovic and LeBron James.
But presenting the event as the pinnacle of sporting achievement hasn’t been enough to keep NBC’s Olympic television ratings from spiraling out of control in a fractured media landscape, and the network is hoping that Snoop Dogg’s aura as one of pop culture’s most recognizable and beloved figures will energize viewers of all ages.
Ratings for the Summer Games have been steadily declining since an average of 31.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2012 London Olympics. NBC executives cite pandemic restrictions and an unfavorable time zone for Americans as reasons why the Tokyo Games averaged 15.5 million viewers in prime time, their lowest audience ever.
Snoop Dogg’s high-profile appointment expands on the smaller role he played during the 2021 Tokyo Games, hosting a recap commentary show on the streaming platform Peacock with comedian Kevin Hart. Some of the footage went viral, including when Dogg compared a horse’s leaning trot during a dressage competition to “crip walking,” the dance named after the West Coast street gang.
“It just resonated with people, and we realized that comedy and humor needed to be part of the structure of the primetime show,” said Molly Solomon, who is executive producer and president of NBC Olympics Production and will serve as Snoop Dogg’s de facto boss for two weeks.
Olympic broadcasts, once helmed by venerable journalists and morning show hosts, will now feature a rapper whose career-defining songs reference alcohol (“Gin and Juice”) and promiscuity (“Drop It Like It’s Hot”). It’s the latest chapter in Snoop Dogg’s three-decade rise from secular musician and marijuana enthusiast to all-around jovial pop personality, ubiquitous salesman, actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur.
In the days leading up to the opening ceremony, Olympic torchbearer Snoop Dogg visited wrestlers, basketball players and other athletes, many of whom posted the moments on social media. Solomon and other NBC executives took a photo with him on set.
Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, said he appreciated the strict style that Bob Costas and other commentators used when he watched the Olympics as a child in Long Beach, California, near Los Angeles. But he said he would not imitate them and would instead add his own unabashed, family-friendly touch.
“We respected them and loved their perspective, but moving forward, you have to ask yourself, ‘OK, what is the voice of the people right now?’” Snoop Dogg said in a June interview. He spoke from a cushioned, couch-like leather seat in a luxury van parked between production trailers at the U.S. Olympic track and field team trials in Eugene, Oregon.
He added: “They want me to be myself, and that’s what I like about them, because they don’t want me to water anything down or be someone that I’m not. They want Snoop Dogg.”
NBC and Snoop Dogg, the 16-time Grammy-nominated artist, warmed up for Paris at the track events, held on the verdant campus of the University of Oregon. To the surprise of hundreds of spectators on that dreary June morning, on the sparkling Hayward Field, Snoop Dogg sprinted 200 meters. He swung his thin arms stiffly and smiled as he circled the track, then planted his hands on his hips, exhaling deeply.
Most Olympic athletes cross the 200-meter finish line in about 21 seconds. Snoop Dogg did it in 34.44 seconds, a time he was proud of considering his age (52) and lack of track and field experience.
“My thighs hurt,” Snoop Dogg told NBC Sports analyst Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist from Trinidad and Tobago who ran with him. Boldon quipped that they should have run the 100 meters instead. After stopping to take selfies — “Snoop’s president!” one fan shouted — he retreated to the van, where he napped undisturbed for about an hour. His body needed to recover.
“I’m a relaxed, calm, no-pressure, no-stress person — that’s high pressure and high stress,” Snoop Dogg said. He wore a red, white and blue tracksuit with a Kobe Bryant T-shirt under a custom jacket with the NBC logo. “You don’t want to lose, you want to get a good time, you have to focus on the turns — it’s just a lot. But I wanted to run because I’m an athlete and I wanted to see what my time would be like as a senior.”
NBC has widely aired footage of his race. A camera crew will also follow him to Paris, where he will tour the city, attend the competitions with the athletes’ families and more. Those segments will air during the evening’s primetime show, where he will regularly appear alongside veteran sportscaster Mike Tirico.
“You can see how much he intends to succeed,” Tirico said. “A person with such a big name can just show up, but he’s there to work.”
Solomon, the NBC producer, and Snoop Dogg crafted his open, fluid stance over a series of meetings, including a half-day, in-person summit in April at his Los Angeles compound. Solomon was curious, Solomon said, asking about new sports approved by the International Olympic Committee — he said he was eager to see breakdancing. They also pored over computer-generated images of the opening ceremony’s route along the Seine.
Solomon said Snoop Dogg’s assignments would be planned out on a spreadsheet about two days in advance, but he added that he would also improvise.
“I prefer to be poorly prepared, because then I can always find something to fill the gaps.” “For me, it’s the events and the athletes that are going to create who I’m supposed to be,” he said.
Snoop Dogg already has some credibility in the broadcast booth. For years, professional leagues have allowed him to provide live commentary on games, sometimes having him get out of his seat in the arena when he attends games as a fan.
“What’s the booty position?” Snoop Dogg asked as two men wrestled at an Ultimate Fighting Championship show. “He slides across the ice like a pair of dice,” Snoop Dogg said at an NHL game in 2021. “He’s got a rocket in his pocket,” he said in June while announcing a Major League Baseball game.
“I think people like that about me, it’s natural and real,” Snoop Dogg said. “It’s like your uncle or your dad is watching the game the same way Snoop is and talking the same way and you feel connected.”
NBC is looking to create similar connections with other celebrities. After conducting market research that found many people said pop culture informs their daily conversations, the company will deploy podcast star Alex Cooper, singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson, comedian Leslie Jones and others across its platforms leading up to and during the Games.
John Skipper, former ESPN chairman and co-founder of Meadowlark Media, said NBC’s strategy should be effective and is a smart business decision. NBC has broadcast the Olympics exclusively domestically since 1988 and paid more than $7 billion for the rights from 2022 to 2032.
“The Olympics are kind of NBC’s most important sports brand,” Skipper said. The company recently bought the media rights to the NBA and also airs the NFL, Premier League soccer and the Kentucky Derby. “They have a lot of incentives to do everything they can to keep these events relevant and keep the audience interested.”
As he continues to fulfill his responsibilities in Paris, Snoop Dogg is already looking ahead. He said he would like to be included in the network’s coverage of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. “It makes sense,” he said. Solomon said, laughing, that he might also be needed for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
“This is not an isolated case,” Snoop Dogg said. “I’m not here to save the day. This is something we’re building.”