NBC airs USA-Canada gold medal game commercial-free

For those waking up early to catch the United States attempt to win their first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since the 1980 Miracle on Ice, NBC has made it an exceptional viewing experience.

With the United States and Canada facing off for a gold medal in what will, for all intents and purposes, serve as the finale to this Winter Olympiad, NBC decided to treat fans to a broadcast without any commercial interruption. For all three periods of Sunday morning’s game, NBC will avoid airing commercials during the game. The only commercials shown will come between periods during intermissions.

For a game that will likely attract an eight-figure television audience, that’s significant potential revenue for NBC to pass up. Back in 2002, when the two countries faced off for gold in Salt Lake City, 17.1 million viewers tuned in. Eight years later in Vancouver, the two teams again battled for gold in front of an American television audience of 27.6 million viewers. Just last year, USA-Canada drew nearly 10 million viewers in the final game of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Commercial-free broadcasts during big sporting events are nothing new, but they’re usually limited to a certain portion of the telecast. For instance, NBC has presented the final hour of the U.S. Open and Open Championship golf tournaments without commercials in recent years. But those efforts are done with a presenting sponsor, like Rolex. Sunday’s hockey game has no such sponsor.

As expected, the decision to air the gold medal game without commercials has gone over well with fans.