Gary Zenkel

Gary Zenkel has been President, NBC Olympics, since 2005. In this role, he oversees NBC’s Olympic business and works closely with the International Olympic Committee, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the organizing committees for each Olympic Games. In addition, Zenkel works closely with NBCUniversal’s distribution partners, stations, and external media companies to advance coverage, distribution and marketing while navigating the constantly changing media landscape.

In 2024, Zenkel oversaw the Paris Olympic Games, regarded as one of the most successful in NBCUniversal’s history. The company’s coverage from Paris reached an average of 67 million total viewers per day across its broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. Fans streamed 23.5 billion minutes of NBCU’s coverage, led by Peacock – 40 percent more than all prior Olympic Summer and Winter Games combined. Gen Z powered a record 6.55 billion impressions across NBCUniversal’s social media platforms, a 184 percent increase compared to Tokyo 2020.

Since the acquisition of NBCUniversal by Comcast in 2011, Zenkel has led three successful NBCU acquisitions of U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games. The first, in June 2011, awarded NBCU the rights to the Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The second agreement was negotiated in June 2014 and granted NBCU the U.S. media rights to all Olympic Games through 2032, making it the longest U.S. media-rights agreement in Olympic history. The third agreement was completed in March 2025 and awarded NBCU the rights to Salt Lake City 2034 and Olympic Games 2036.

Zenkel has also been instrumental in major soccer acquisitions for NBCU, including Telemundo’s exclusive Spanish-language U.S. media rights to FIFA World Cup® Soccer from 2015 through 2026, and NBC Sports Group’s three-season Premier League acquisition in 2013.

Zenkel served as Executive Vice President of NBC Olympics from 2001 to 2005. From 1997 to 2001, Zenkel served as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, NBC Olympics. Previously, from 1994 to 1997, Zenkel was Vice President of NBC Sports and Executive Assistant to NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol. During that period he played a major role in NBC’s acquisition, contract negotiations, and renewals of the Olympics, French Open, Major League Baseball, Notre Dame Football, PGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association championships and Ryder Cup. Zenkel joined NBC Sports in 1990 as Director of Sports Contract Negotiations. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Zenkel was a corporate associate with Cahill, Gordon & Reindel, a New York City-based law firm.

Zenkel graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983 and from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1987. He was a two-year letterman on the Wolverines golf team.