DAVID NEAL
Executive Vice President, NBC Olympics
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As Executive Vice President, NBC Olympics, David Neal oversees every aspect of NBC’s Olympic production. For the 2004 Athens Games, Neal’s task is especially daunting, as NBC’s plan encompasses 1,210 hours of unprecedented 24-hour coverage with all 28 Olympic sports receiving some airtime. Neal, who was promoted to his current position in July 2001, is responsible for the production, engineering, programming, operations and production services departments of NBC Olympics. An 18-time Emmy Award winner (including 11 for his work on the Olympics), the Athens Games are Neal’s sixth with NBC and fifth as head of production. Neal has been preparing for the Athens Games for more than three years. In fact, the first of his more than 15 trips to Athens to survey competition venues and work on NBC’s production plan took place in July 2000. His first trip to Torino, Italy to prepare for the 2006 Winter Games was in August 2001. Neal’s efforts alongside NBC Sports & Olympics Chairman and Olympic Executive Producer Dick Ebersol were recognized with a record total of 11 Emmy Awards for NBC’s coverage of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, including two for Neal. In addition, NBC won six primetime Emmy Awards for its coverage of the Salt Lake Opening Ceremony. Neal won three Emmy Awards for his work during the Sydney Games, three for Atlanta and two for the Barcelona Olympics. In Salt Lake City, Neal produced the Opening Ceremony and co-produced the prime time show hosted by Bob Costas, as he did in both Sydney and Atlanta. In Barcelona, Neal also produced NBC’s morning Olympic daytime show. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Neal produced NBC’s critically acclaimed coverage of the bizarre and controversial Olympic boxing competition. Neal joined NBC Sports as an assistant to the producer in 1978 and was promoted to associate producer a year later. In 1983, he was promoted to staff producer, responsible for coverage of such properties as the NBA, Major League Baseball and the NFL. In his career at NBC, Neal has produced four NBA Finals, two World Series and a Super Bowl pregame show. Neal was the producer of Game Six of the 1998 NBA Finals - Michael Jordan’s dramatic final game with the Bulls. In addition to his executive and production roles with NBC Olympics, Neal also served as the Head of Production for the “NBA on NBC.” Neal’s 18 Emmys also include an Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Series for the NBA on NBC in 2002; an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Special as the Coordinating Producer of the 1997 NBA Finals. He also won an Emmy Award for the “tease” for NBC’s coverage of Game Two of the 1988 World Series, which intertwined Kirk Gibson’s game winning homerun in Game One with the climactic scene in the motion picture “The Natural,” Neal’s first Emmy Award was for the acclaimed documentary retrospective “February 25, 1964: The Championship,” celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the first heavyweight fight between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston. Neal graduated from the University of Southern California in 1978 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Neal’s father – the late Roy Neal – was a much honored and respected NBC News correspondent, producer and executive from 1948-86. Neal was born in Newport News, Va., and raised in Woodland Hills, Calif.