About every four years, Steve Kornacki becomes a reluctant internet celebrity.
Comedian Leslie Jones called him “the sexiest nerd on TV.” People magazine agrees. His go-to outfit (glasses, white dress shirt, tie, khakis or dark pants) is a popular Halloween costume in some Washington areas.
“I really don’t understand, but I’m glad,” said Kornacki, a national political correspondent for NBC News. He became an enviable figure during the election cycle thanks to his talent for using large touch screens and analysis of election situations. Maps and poll data.
At one point in November, Kornacki broadcast for about 17 hours straight. It was a smooth process compared to 2020, when the presidential election was not held for four days. He took a few naps at his desk that week and slept a total of 10 hours.
After such a difficult time, NBC Sports asked Kornacki if he would bring his data presentation skills to its Sunday night studio show, “Football Night in America,” where he analyzes National Football League teams’ playoff chances. Kornacki, who grew up in Massachusetts as a fan of the New England Patriots and Boston Celtics, accepted the additional responsibility, saying he probably would have watched football anyway.
Similar to election night, as Kornacki lays out the states in which a candidate can reach 270 Electoral College votes, his division of football considers the best bets moving forward, including must-win games for teams still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt. Clears the way.
Permutations can get complicated. The Los Angeles Rams clinched the division last weekend on the strength of a winning streak that was the combined record of the 10 teams they had lost to thus far.
“We look at scenarios, variables and probabilities, and that’s what I do in campaigns,” Kornacki said.
Kornacki graduated from Boston University and worked in a variety of media before co-hosting the MSNBC show in 2012. He became a mainstay of election coverage in 2014, but his social media stardom came as viewers flocked to television during the crucial 2020 election. Coronavirus infectious disease pandemic worldwide.
Kornacki said the coverage likely resonated because she and her viewers were absorbing the barrage of information together.
“For me to see things on screen for the first time, and for them to see things on screen for the first time, it’s really a shared experience,” he said.
Kornacki prepares for the election all year long, but the process intensifies after about six months. He said it’s especially important to study demographic data in battleground states and counties. He uses spreadsheets and maps to remember information so he can immediately remember it when he discusses voting patterns on TV.
Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s Sunday morning public affairs show “Meet the Press,” said last October when Kornacki described how Pennsylvania Democrats lost ground between the 2012 and 2020 elections in some counties with growing Latino populations. He said he was very impressed. . Republican candidate Donald J. Trump won the coveted swing state a few weeks later.
“In many ways, he held up a mirror to the nation and said, ‘This is who we are now and this is where we’re headed,’” said Welker, who moderated the 2020 presidential debate.
Political enthusiasts and passionate sports fans may seem to have little overlap, but they are both passionate TV viewers.
“I think it’s hard to ignore,” Kornacki said. “At a very basic level, both of these competitions are ultimately about the winner, and the winner is a product of the numbers that go into it.”
Kornacki’s job in Stamford, Connecticut, where NBC Sports is headquartered, is much easier than spending time analyzing the election at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Analytics firm Pro Football Focus provides the network with numerous predictions for NFL teams fighting for 14 playoff spots. The final seed in a bracket is often not determined until the final week of the regular season and can vary based on winning percentage and tiebreaker formulas.
Sometimes the analysis is simple. Whichever team wins Sunday night’s matchup between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings on NBC will earn the conference’s top playoff seed.
In addition to his football work, Kornacki has contributed analysis of the Olympics, Kentucky Derby and National Dog Show for NBC Sports. NBC is scheduled to begin broadcasting National Basketball Association (NBA) games next season, but Kornacki said he hasn’t heard whether he will be involved.
Sports may have been a fun escape, but Kornacki’s day job remains politics.
This fall, he asked me to compete in the Breeders’ Cup, a major horse racing event in Del Mar, California. But the presidential election was just days away and network executives wanted him to take on a new look. There was a map that could be deciphered.
