Record live coverage slated for 2015 Worlds

American ski racing fans will have unprecedented coverage of the International Ski Federation’s 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek as the result of a media partnership announced by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), NBC Sports Group and Universal Sports.

“The 2015 World Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek will be the most significant alpine skiing event in America since the 2002 Olympics,” said USSA President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “As the host nation, we’ve taken very innovative steps to invest in the best broadcast coverage ever for our sport in America together with our partners NBC, NBCSN and Universal Sports.”

NBC, NBCSN and Universal Sports will combine for a record 25-plus hours of coverage, including live coverage of every event for the first time in history for a total of 16 hours. NBC Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product, Universal Sports and the USSA Network on YouTube will combine to provide comprehensive live streaming coverage.

The Feb. 2–15, 2015, World Championships will feature the best alpine ski racers in the world, including U.S. Ski Team Olympic stars like Ted Ligety, Bode Miller, Andrew Weibrecht, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso.

“The partnership with NBC, NBCSN and Universal Sports represents a tremendously innovative breakthrough for skiing and snowboarding in the U.S.,” said Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation. “One of our goals for the Championships is to elevate ski racing, and skiing in general, to a new level around the nation. The extensive domestic broadcast coverage presents us with a wonderful vehicle to accomplish that.”

NBC Sports Group will utilize its Olympic production crew and commentators across NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. A record six hours of coverage is planned for NBC with 8.5 hours on NBCSN and 13 for Universal Sports.

NBC Sports Live Extra will live stream all coverage airing on NBC and NBCSN via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to make quality content available to authenticated customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

Universal Sports Network will provide expanded coverage of the 2015 World Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek on both its cable network and website including daily pre-race shows live from Beaver Creek,  additional live coverage of events and full coverage of the nation’s team event in Vail.

Universal Sports, known to ski racing fans for its longtime coverage of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup each season, will air at least 13 hours from Vail and Beaver Creek, including the live daily pre-game show featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes action and unique insight that will provide unparalleled access to the event.

During last winter’s Nature Valley Raptor Women’s World Cup in Vail/Beaver Creek, the USSA, in an unprecedented move, announced that it had acquired the U.S. television rights to the 2015 and 2017 FIS World Alpine and Nordic Championships from Eurovision/EBU. This unique agreement paved the way for negotiations with NBC, NBCSN and Universal Sports, resulting in the strongest broadcast package ever for skiing and snowboarding in the United States.

The World Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek are expected to showcase athletes from more than 70 nations, with an estimated 750 million worldwide television viewers and an onsite media and broadcast entourage of 1,500.