Fans just tuning into the 2025 Kentucky Derby may be wondering where lead host Mike Tirico is on the NBC broadcast. Fans who have been watching all the action at Churchill Downs on Saturday could already tell something was off.

NBC has done five hours of coverage on the main network on Derby Day since 2018. Sam Flood, the executive producer and president of NBC Sports Production, said the true evolution behind adding more hours while making the coverage appeal to a cross-section of viewers began after he produced his first Derby in 2006.