About every four years, Steve Kornacki becomes a reluctant Internet celebrity.
Comedian Leslie Jones has called them out. “Sexiest nerd on TV.” People magazine Agrees. His attire – glasses, a white dress shirt, a tie and khaki or black trousers – is one Modern Halloween Costume In some Washington circles.
“I’m not sure I really understand it, but I’m happy,” said Kornacki, a national political correspondent for NBC News, who likes to use a big touchscreen during election cycles and his desire for election analysis. Become a target. Maps and polling data.
At one point in November, Kornacki spent nearly 17 consecutive hours on the air. It was a cakewalk compared to 2020, when the presidential election was not called for four days. He slept a total of 10 hours this week with a couple of naps at his desk.
After that grueling streak, NBC Sports asked Cornacki if he would use his data presentation skills on “Football Night in America,” its Sunday night studio show, about National Football League teams’ playoff odds. will bring to find out. Kornicki, who grew up in Massachusetts as a New England Patriots and Boston Celtics fan, accepted the added responsibilities, saying he would have been watching football anyway.
Like on election night, when Kornacki explains which states could qualify a candidate for 270 Electoral College votes, his football segments open up the best ways to advance, including mandatory ones for teams. Also included are winners who are still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt.
Changes can be complicated. The Los Angeles Rams clinched their division last weekend because of it. Power of Win tiebreaker – A combined record of 10 teams they have beaten so far.
“We’re looking at scenarios, we’re looking at variables, we’re looking at possibilities and that’s exactly what I’m doing for the campaign,” Kornacki said.
Kornacki graduated from Boston University and worked at various stores. Before co-hosting the MSNBC show In 2012 He became a mainstay for election coverage in 2014, but his social media stardom came in 2020, when viewers tuned in to televise a crucial election during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kornicki said the coverage was probably buzzing because he and viewers were absorbing the onslaught of information together.
“It’s really a shared experience where I’m seeing things on screen for the first time, and they’re seeing something on screen for the first time,” he said.
Kornacki prepares for elections throughout the year, but the process is accelerated by about six months. Studying demographic data in battleground states and counties is especially important, he said. He uses spreadsheets and maps to memorize information so he can recall it immediately on television when discussing voting patterns.
Kristen Welker, anchor of NBC’s Sunday morning public affairs show “Meet the Press,” said she was moved during an event. Part in October When Kornacki outlined how Democrats in Pennsylvania lost support in some counties with growing Latino populations between the 2012 and 2020 elections. Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, won the coveted swing state weeks later.
“In many ways, he holds up a mirror to the country and says, ‘This is where we are now and this is where we’re going,'” said Welker, who in 2020 Moderated the presidential debate..
Political buffs and die-hard sports fans may seem to have little overlap, but they are both passionate television audiences.
“It’s hard to ignore.” Kornacki said. “At a very basic level, these are both competitions in which there’s going to be a winner at the end of the day, and the winner is the product of the numbers that go into it.”
Stamford, Conn. Cornacki’s duties at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where NBC Sports is based, are much simpler than his time parsing the polls. Pro Football Focus, an analytics company, provides the network with myriad predictions for the NFL teams vying for 14 playoff berths. Final seeds in a bracket are often undecided until the final weeks of the regular season, and can depend on winning percentage and tiebreaking formulas.
Sometimes the analysis is straightforward: Whichever team wins Sunday night’s game between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, which airs on NBC, will clinch the conference’s top playoff seed.
In addition to his football work, Kornacki has also contributed analysis for NBC Sports. The Olympicsthe The Kentucky Derby And even National Dog Show. NBC will begin airing National Basketball Association games next season, but Kornacki said he hasn’t heard if he will be involved.
Sports have been an enjoyable escape, but Kornacki’s day job is still politics.
That fall, he asked to work the Breeders’ Cup, a horse-racing event held in Del Mar, California, but the presidential election was days away, and network executives offered him fresh. Wanted tails. There were maps to understand.