Televising Belmont during pandemic poses challenges for NBC

This won't be your typical Belmont Stakes on Saturday, and the NBC telecast will follow a similar pattern.

Horse racing's coronavirus-delayed Triple Crown gets under way with the running of the Belmont, which usually anchors the series and is run at a mile and a half. This year unlike any other has the Belmont as the opener and going a mile and an eighth.

There also will be no spectators at Belmont, which will give coordinating producer Rob Hyland some options.

"There's a lot more we can do through audio," Hyland said on a conference call. "As long as venues are crowdless, listening in on a trainer's final instructions to a jockey before a race could be great access that we've never really had before because we've always showcased the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance. It will hopefully create a more intimate experience for the viewer at home."

NBC's production crew for the race will not be together, as usual.

Race caller Larry Collmus and reporters Britney Eurton and Kenny Rice will be the only talent on site. Program host Mike Tirico and analyst Randy Moss will be in the NBC Sports Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. Analyst Jerry Bailey and handicapper Eddie Olczyk will be at their respective homes in Florida and Chicago.

Two production teams will be used. The camera operators, audio technicians and production support will be at Belmont. Another crew that includes the production engineers will be with the gang at Stamford.

Approximately 50 people will work on this year's telecast. More than 200 were a part of the 2019 production.

"This sounds like something Jerry Bailey should be saying," Moss said of his colleague, a retired jockey, "but, heck, I'm just happy to get back in the saddle again. We've all been doing little things to try to stay busy....