NBC always gets the luxury of airing each Sunday’s most anticipated NFL game. The Sunday Night Football contest is set to draw fans in through the star power on the field and the cameras capturing the action.
Except Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs-Atlanta Falcons Week 3 contest left many fans ripping the network.
What Technical Difficulties Surfaced?
The millions of viewers tuning into the interconference showdown featuring Pro Bowl quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins were met with numerous technical issues captured here:
If you've noticed a couple of glitchy moments on the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcast of Chiefs-Falcons, it's not just your TV/device. 🏈📺😵💫#SNF #NFL pic.twitter.com/tQg5vwUsHY
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2024
But it wasn’t just the game action that got impacted. Even the telestrator was disrupted momentarily, as seen and heard here.
The NBC technical difficulties on the Chiefs-Falcons broadcast are now coming for Cris Collinsworth's telestrator work. 🏈📺🎙️😵💫 #NFL #SNF https://t.co/bvBqYdgVRH pic.twitter.com/djCjD8UGJk
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2024
That meant that when Cris Collinsworth was trying to draw up the schemes and action, the screen ended up going pitch dark.
Fans React to Glitches and Difficulties
Fans who caught the glitches didn’t hesitate to ask online what was going on. Some went on to call out the network — citing it as a broadcast issue and not their converter box or internet connection.
One NFL writer took notice of the broadcast misfiring on showing a highlight touchdown.
“They flashed a TD graphic. This NBC broadcast is amateur hour,” posted Pro Football Writer’s Association writer Scott Kacsmar.
They flashed a TD graphic. This NBC broadcast is amateur hour.
— Scott Kacsmar (@ScottKacsmar) September 23, 2024
Some fans even took to social media to share how they heard a bee-like buzzing noise in their live stream.
Other fans even cracked the joke online that NBC was broadcasting the infamous “Heidi” game all over again — best known as the movie that cut into a thrilling 1968 contest played between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders. The Raiders scored the final two touchdowns of that game, but East Coast viewers were unable to watch as NBC broke away to broadcast the film on their network at its allotted time.
Fortunately, NBC didn’t have to deal with a movie abruptly cutting into a live NFL game. But Sunday’s issues became the second-such broadcast involving some audio and technical issues.
NBC Under Fire Recently for Another Event Involving Technical Issues
It’s officially become a rough last three months for NBC.
Outside of football, the network is known for broadcasting the famed U.S. Open in June — annually one of the top golf events shown on national television.
However, the network’s third-round coverage was besieged by technical difficulties. Graphics got lost, along with the leaderboard. The audio momentarily was disrupted as well.
And that angered some fans who wanted to see putts and long drives at Pinehurst Resort.
NBC promised us that they were dedicating all of their possible resources in their biggest events.
This is their biggest event and they've managed to lose audio with the lead groups, and currently have no graphics/leaderboards.
Unbelievable.
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 15, 2024
Circling back to the SNF contest played at Mercedes Benz Stadium, the host Falcons were ahead by a 14-13 score at halftime.
Still, fans missed a big pass breakup near the 6:15 mark of the first quarter while also watching Collinsworth draw a yellow mark on a blank screen.