Entering the ‘Gold Zone’
How many people does it take to produce the biggest sporting event on television? Around 3,000, apparently, and this summer, Garrett McCloskey ’25 was one of them.
As an intern for NBCUniversal’s Olympic production team, McCloskey spent the duration of the Paris Games glued to the editing screen in NBC’s central tape department in Stamford, Connecticut, processing and distributing footage that would be watched by millions of primetime viewers across the country. Every day starting at 4 a.m. (10 a.m. Paris time) he dug through the network’s 100+ camera feeds for the best clips to use during segues and recaps. When producers needed scenic shots of the Arc de Triomphe, a 10-second cut of the men’s surfing final, or archival footage from the 2016 Summer Games—McCloskey delivered them.
“It was a pinch yourself moment,” he recalled. “At the end of the day I got to go back to my hotel, turn on the TV, and see my work going out to millions of people.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics was the largest broadcast production in NBC history, attracting more than 30.4 million viewers with 7,000 hours of coverage. The Stamford production crew was stacked with veteran producers, many with prior Olympic experience, and in his spare moments McCloskey got to watch them work, sitting in on complex operations like the Gold Zone, which cut between different feeds to bring viewers the most exciting moments of each competition. Similar to an Olympic event, the atmosphere in the control rooms was electric.
“There was a palpable buzz in the entire building,” said McCloskey. “You could just tell that everyone there loved what they were doing.”
On campus, McCloskey cited support from all corners, including BC Athletics, the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Progam, and Christine Caswell of the Communication Department. (Lee Pellegrini)
McCloskey has been a sports fan his entire life. Growing up outside Philadelphia, he rooted for the Phillies and Eagles and was a member of his high school rugby team. He was drawn to Boston College for its strong academics and Power 5 athletics program, and applied early decision to the Carroll School of Management. His acceptance letter came with an invitation to join the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program, which offers unique travel, research, and service learning opportunities in addition to a full-tuition scholarship.
“It completely changed the trajectory of my BC experience,” McCloskey said of the program. “It truly promotes a journey in global citizenship, which put me in a great competitive position for the Olympics internship.”
In his three-plus years as a student in Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program, McCloskey has studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland, taught sports in Australia, traveled to Jordan and Dubai, and conducted research on a study grant to the Philippines. His internship at NBC came on the heels of another opportunity at ESPN+, where he interned as a director/producer and graphics operator for an independent league baseball team.
Back on the Heights, McCloskey is employed as a production assistant for BC athletic events, helping put together broadcasts that air on the ACC Network, ESPN, and NESN. He started off as a first-year student holding a camera cable during football games, but since then he’s worked in just about every role imaginable, from camera operator to technical director. The job not only readied him for his NBC debut, it helped him identify his future career goals.
“Thanks to BC I’m getting these hands-on experiences with major broadcasts and I’m often the only student doing those,” he said. “I’ve realized that this work is really the language I speak—it’s just clicked with me and I want to keep running with it.”