"Coach" Snoop Dogg attends the Team USA Welcome Experience at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics on February 3, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Joe Scarnici/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment At some point during NBC's presentation of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Snoop Dogg and Stanley Tucci will rendezvous on the side of an Italian highway. NBC is playing coy about what the pair will be doing (expect delicious food to be involved), but Molly Solomon, the executive producer and president of NBC Olympics production, promises "it will be memorable." The stunt, which will feature two of NBC's celebrity correspondents for the Milan-Cortina Olympics, is a textbook example of a strategy that the company piloted in Paris, but that it will double down for in Milan (and Los Angeles, come 2028): Betting that high-wattage celebrities, TikTok and YouTube stars, and a plan to turn athletes into social media sensations, can drive viewer interest in an event that is still, at its core, about amateur sports. Related Stories TV How to Watch Chloe Kim Snowboarding at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Live Online for Free TV Team USA Women's Ice Hockey: How to Watch the 2026 Winter Olympics Event Live Online for Free "I think what we realized is that you've gotta have moments that stand out, that galvanize the social algorithm, and that comes not only from athletic performance, but from connecting the celebrities to the athletes," Solomon tells The Hollywood Reporter of NBC's learnings from the Paris 2024 games. And Snoop Dogg, whose participation led to many viral moments, is once again at the center of it, exploring the region, making appearances on NBC shows, and cheering on from the crowd. Tucci, meanwhile, will be a special correspondent, highlighting the food and culture of northern Italy in what Solomon describes as a "nightly postcard." "Snoop was able to elevate their [the athletes] profile by being with them and showcasing them," Solomon says. "So the first thing we thought about coming out of Paris is, how do we do this even better? We never want to put a shadow over the athletes, we actually want to amplify what they're doing and that's why Snoop works." Snoop's success underscores the effort that NBC has put into leveraging celebrities to generate interest in the games, and the athletes that participate in them. NFL and NBA stars are household names in a way that Olympic athletes mostly aren't, so the logic is a strategic one. "Celebrities expand the tent," says Jenny Storms, the CMO for TV and streaming at NBCUniversal. "They bring the casual fan fans in, but they also help introduce these athlete's stories to the American public, and a lot of these athletes are still relatively unknown as they walk into these winter games." Matt Damon in NBC Olympics' 2026 campaign promo that also promotes Universal's The Odyssey. NBC Olympics That has meant an extended marketing campaign featuring stars like Ray Romano, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, Glen Powell, Scarlett Johansson, culminating with a spot starring Odyssey lead Matt Damon. And it means those celebrity correspondents will be roaming the Italian countryside, eager to create a viral moment. Tucci, Solomon says, "thinks like a producer," and has already mapped out a plan. And it also means taking those relatively unknown stars and turning them into social media sensations. Last year, NBC took a busfull of Olympic hopefuls to TikTok's Los Angeles headquarters. The goal was to connect the athletes to the platform, betting that as they post content, fans will tune in. It's all part of a quiet effort to help athletes develop and grow their personal social platforms, betting that as they gather fans on Instagram or TikTok, those fans will want to watch them during the games. Olympics athletes, with rare exceptions like the basketball teams or hockey teams, or a Michael Phelps or Shaun White, are amateurs. They are not household names. "The biggest thing was hesitation and fear. It was a worry around, 'I don't want to do something wrong, I don't want to post something that then gets me in trouble.' Social was just a bit scary," Storms says of the effort. "There was trepidation around it, and that's when an unlock happened in our heads, and we said, Hold on, we're literally doing this every single day, all day long ... we can help them." The company began to test the thesis in Paris, where sprinter Noah Lyles emerged as a case study. "He loves to post about fashion, very fashionable guy, and he loves to post about track and field," Storms says. "We brought into the meeting a heat map that showed him the time of day of when people are on social media that are interacting with fashion, and when are people on social media interacting with sports and thin