Sports News

NBC Sports Boston’s Trenni Casey ready for a new Olympic challenge: Studio host

“I can’t wait to get started.”

By Chad Finn

July 24, 2024

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When Trenni Casey joined NBC Sports Boston in 2012, thus working under the NBC Sports Group umbrella, she was hopeful that a bucket-list item for most sports journalists might be within her grasp.

“When I signed with NBC,” said Casey, “I was like, ‘Oh, if I can cover one Olympics, how cool would that be?’ All I was hoping for was one.”

Talk about a wish fulfilled. Casey has been part of NBC and its sister networks’ massive coverage team not just once, but several times over. At 11 a.m. Saturday, she will officially begin her fifth Olympics assignment for NBC Sports when she hosts studio coverage on E! and CNBC.

They are two of several channels — including USA Network, Telemundo, Golf Channel, and streaming service Peacock — that, along with the main network, will be dedicated to covering the Paris Games from July 26-Aug. 11.

But there is a twist this time for Casey. In her previous assignments — the 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (Pyeongchang) winter and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro) and 2021 (Tokyo) summer Games — she was a reporter. Casey covered such memorable events as the US men’s curling team’s unlikely gold medal in ‘18.

For these Olympics, she is moving over to hosting duty. Her feet won’t be on the ground in Paris, but at NBC Sports’ sprawling home-base studios in Stamford, Conn.

“When they asked me to do studio I was like, ‘Really? After all this time I get to do the studio?’ What a cool new challenge,” said Casey. “Daunting, but really exciting.

“Reporting is different because you do so much work behind the scenes to prepare for just a couple of minutes. This is obviously different. We could have chunks of time where we’re on camera for 15 minutes straight. They may just say, ‘Hey, we have [tennis analyst] Rennae Stubbs, who’s going come into the studio with you because maybe Coco Gauff won a memorable match. Or maybe we’ll check in with reporters or analysts that are overseas and do a quick interview with them. Or, we’re going to fill some time in [in between events] and you just have to go with it.’”

Casey is among several broadcasters with New England ties who will be part of NBC’s coverage.

They include Kathryn Tappen, formerly of NESN, and Carolyn Manno, formerly of NBC Sports Boston, who are anchoring coverage on USA Network; Naoko Funayama, who will be a sportsdesk reporter; Celtics voice Sean Grande, who is calling boxing; Eric Frede, the handball play-by-play voice; analysts Elizabeth Beisel (swimming), Tim Daggett (gymnastics), and Brad Faxon (golf); and data cruncher Steve Kornacki.

Casey, who headed to Stamford on Monday, said she’s eager to get a sense of what its like to work from headquarters.

“Obviously, there would have been an excitement to being on-site in Paris,” she said, “but it’s sort of like reenergizing, having this new challenge and working with a different crew and being a part of an all-day studio.”

When she says “all-day studio,” she’s not exaggerating. Casey will be on-air from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with Laura Britt of NBC Sports Bay Area also hosting on E! and CNBC.

Casey will be found on E! for the most part during the week, with CNBC airing its usual financial programming. On the weekends, Casey and Britt will lead coverage on both channels, which will require some juggling since each will be showing different events.

Casey, who hosts Arbella Early Edition on NBC Sports Boston among other assignments, says there really isn’t anything that directly compares to anchoring Olympic coverage.

She noted that it’s a little like when she would host “MLB Tonight” on the MLB Network before coming to NBC Sports Boston. And it has some elements of covering a championship parade — something she has plenty of experience doing — since reporters must talk extemporaneously at times when the duck boats are rolling.

But there is no direct comparison, she acknowledges. After all, there’s no undertaking in sports broadcasting quite like covering an Olympics.

“I can’t wait to get started,” she said. “It should be pretty free flowing and pretty fast-paced. You have to be flexible and prepared for anything.

“But they put you in a great position here. You’ve got researchers and producers and writers, and you have so many people that make sure that you can just focus on being the best anchor you can be. Which is awesome.”