July 23, 2024 — Covering one of the biggest sporting events in the world is a big responsibility, though it’s something Todd Bivona '07 has done quite a bit in an eventful television career that has taken him around the world. Todd is in Paris, ready to cover the Summer Olympics for NBC as a stage manager for some of the network’s daytime coverage and the entire primetime show. He will be responsible from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern and again from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. (Essentially, anytime you see Mike Tirico, Todd will be about 15 feet away).

This will be Todd’s fifth Olympics on location and his seventh overall for NBC. His Olympic journey began with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, where he worked as an affiliate web producer for NBCOlympics.com from NBC's former Landmark Square headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. His career then took him on location to cover subsequent Olympic Games, including Sochi, Rio (where he worked with Bob Costas in his final year as the primetime host), Pyeongchang (with Mike Tirico in his debut as the primetime host), and Tokyo.

Todd Bivona '07 at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Photo courtesy of Bivona.

"During my junior year at Marist, I was fortunate enough to intern at HBO Sports and worked with Costas on the set of 'Inside the NFL,' which he hosted alongside Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth, and Cris Carter," Todd recalled. "I then worked with him at MLB Network and other NBC Sports programming leading up to Rio, so we had a familiarity with one another."

"Tirico—another legend—is also one of the most highly regarded and respected on-camera sports personalities of our generation. He is an absolute pleasure and consummate professional."

While there have been plenty of thrills during his Olympics career, Todd has had some setbacks as well. He wasn’t able to attend the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, as he tested positive for COVID-19 the day before his departure. Instead, he worked the opening night of the Olympics remotely from the site of Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles, then returned to Stamford for the remainder of the Games.

Beyond the Olympics, his career has included a number of notable events.

Todd Bivona '07 at Osan Air Base in South Korea in 2018. Photo courtesy of Bivona.

 "One of my most memorable experiences is working at Osan Air Base in South Korea prior to the 2018 Games kicking off. NBC had the Super Bowl the same week, and I was stage managing an amazing group of people. I was able to sit in a fighter jet for a photo. All-time, top-three gig!"

Todd has also been involved in boxing productions on HBO, the NHL Stanley Cup Final, the Indy 500, the U.S. Open golf for Fox Sports, as well as multiple World Series and MLB All-Star Games. He has also worked in London for NBC's coverage of the Premier League, Thursday Night Football for Amazon, and for NBC/NFL Network's Thursday Night Football. Currently, he works for Apple covering MLS soccer and for NBC’s Football Night in America for Sunday Night Football.

Todd Bivona '07 working for MLB Network. Photo courtesy of Bivona.

A Foundation in Sports Communication at Marist
Todd looks back fondly on his Marist experience within the Center for Sports Communication, where the program gave him the opportunity for important hands-on experience. He was also able to land an internship at HBO Sports, and the rest is history. His diverse career includes work with Food Network, QVC, TLC, 3D productions, MTV/VH1, Comedy Central, concerts for Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, and Celine Dion, UFC, Belmont Stakes, corporate work, and a small film set. For the past seven years, he has run his own small media production company based on Staten Island, Gotham Trinity Productions.

"Marist College Television is far and away one of the primary reasons why I got to where I am," he added. "I'll never forget my first paid freelance gig when four students were asked to work for CSI Sports at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center for a boxing event. I met a guy working a camera on a really long arm with remote controls on the end and massive weights. I came to learn he was a jib camera operator with a 24-foot-long jib. After I helped him pack it up, I gave him every way possible to contact me, and that catapulted me to an internship at HBO Sports my junior year."