A veteran of the broadcast industry, David Mazza was named senior vice president and chief technical officer of NBC Sports Group and NBC Olympics in 2012. Mazza manages all engineering and technical elements for NBC Sports Group, and oversees the engineering group, which is charged with designing, building, and operating a re-useable multi-games infrastructure for NBC’s coverage of consecutive Olympic Games. Mazza and his team were instrumental in the building of NBC Sports Group’s state-of-the-art production facility in Stamford, CT, which opened in 2013. The 2016 Olympic Games were Mazza’s 14th Olympics.
Mazza joined NBC in 1994 as the director of engineering and led the technical design, building, and operation of NBC’s International Broadcast Center for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. This involved developing extensive new technology and systems for the “Virtual IBC,” which allowed part of the broadcast center to be located in New York and part in Atlanta.
Under Mazza’s leadership, NBC Olympics engineering pioneered additional technical achievements, including new transportable broadcast equipment systems, which all made its ninth appearance during the Rio Olympics; comprehensive HD coverage; and the Highlights Factory, which debuted new media content for a variety of at-the-time new distribution platforms.
Since beginning his career in 1978, David Mazza has worked in the broadcast production community in many disciplines including engineering design, project management, as a technical director, and a director. Prior to his role with NBC Olympics, Mazza worked on many other system design/build projects, including DirecTV in Castle Rock, CO, The Monitor Channel in Boston, MA, and many other projects involving production, post-production, and remote facilities. Mazza also worked in the fields of sound reinforcement, stage lighting, electronics repair, computer programming, and electronic sports timing.
Mazza’s technical work has spanned the worlds of sports, entertainment, and news working on projects such as Wimbledon from 1982 through 1994; several Super Bowls; Championship Boxing on HBO; NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals from 1985 through 1993; the MTV Video Music Awards; and 12 Olympic Games. During this period, Mazza earned many awards including 20 Emmys for the Olympics from 1984 through 2012, as well as several Monitor, ACE, and BDA awards. Mazza is a recipient of the 2013 Television & Film Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2006 GE Edison Award for technical innovation.
Featured in: Tuesday General Sessions (12/13)
