NBC Omits National Anthem During ‘Sunday Night Football’ Broadcast

The broadcast of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” often attracts the highest ratings on television. Typically, the programming prior to the game’s kickoff signals the start of the broadcast. This made it especially noticeable when the national anthem was skipped during the recent Sunday night broadcast. This occurred during a week when the NFL highlighted its Salute To Service campaign, mere days before Veterans Day, and before a game held at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

On the same weekend, Fox Sports planned to honor military personnel with a two-day salute during their college football and NFL coverage. This included various events to mark Veterans Day.

The Soul Rebels performed the U.S. national anthem before a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints outside Paris. However, on NBC, instead of showing the anthem, the broadcast featured a pregame interview with Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. Following the interview, there was a view of the field showing flag bearers carrying a large American flag off the field.

OutKick reached out to NBC’s executive vice president of communications, Greg Hughes, and senior vice president of communications, Chris McCloskey, for comments on the omission. There was no response prior to publication.

NBC did cover the trade involving defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons to the Bears and aired the “show anthem” with Carrie Underwood. Despite these segments, some viewers noticed “The Star-Spangled Banner” was missing, with discussions apparent on social media.

The decision to broadcast the anthem is generally a network decision, not one dictated by the NFL or individual clubs. Hence, the choice to omit it was likely an editorial decision by NBC.

This was not the first time a national anthem-related issue occurred before a Bears game this season. On September 20, Chicago hosted the Minnesota Vikings, and during that game, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was seen on the sidelines while the anthem played.

On September 28, during an ESPN/ABC broadcast for Monday Night Football, a mariachi rendition of the anthem was performed by Mariachi Herencia de Mexico to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month. The unique performance resulted in mixed responses.

Some speculate NBC might have aimed to avoid potential backlash by not airing the anthem, but the decision sparked its own set of reactions.