According to a report in a Brazilian newspaper, NBC has asked Olympics officials in Rio to move the United States contingent of athletes closer to the end of the Parade of Nations during the opening broadcast of the games.
The newspaper, Agora São Paulo, reported that NBC worries its TV ratings would fall with the original line up placing the U.S. teams earlier in the parade, as reported in a translation by InsideTheGames.com.
The reason the United States is placed earlier in the alphabetical line up for the parade is because in Brazil’s native language of Portuguese, the U.S.A. is named “Estados Unidos,” which places the U.S. in line as an e-named nation and earlier in the parade than it might if it were spelled “United States.”
Reportedly Olympics officials are not keen on the idea of moving the placement of the U.S. entry of the parade and would rather leave the line up as is and in accordance with the Portuguese spellings of the various nations.
NBC is reprising its roll as the chief U.S. Olympics broadcaster, despite some complaints. The network took criticism for its late start times for the swimming finals this year already.
The network also received complaints for not airing a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terror attacks in London during the 2012 Olympic games as well as not airing a live broadcast of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games opening ceremony.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.