Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony Time 2016: Need-to-Know Info for Exciting Event

Few events on the sports calendar can match the pageantry of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The spectacle brings together some of the best athletes from around the globe to celebrate the most unique traits of the host country, which in this case is Brazil.

Although every opening ceremony is special, particularly for those individuals who worked their entire lives for the opportunity to represent their respective nations in the Olympics, the display in Beijing eight years ago is the gold standard for the modern era. Rio de Janeiro hopes to top that Friday evening.

So let's check out all the important details for watching the biennial global showcase. That's followed by a preview of the event, including an explanation for why it won't be available live on American television despite only a small time difference between the countries.

Viewing Information

Ceremony Details

Where: Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro

When: Friday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. ET

U.S. TV Coverage

Time: 8 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific)

Channel: NBC

Event Preview

Before getting into the delayed ceremonies, it's important to note NBC does a rock-solid job with a majority of its Olympic coverage. It brings in experts to give viewers much-needed insight on sports that only enjoy the spotlight every four years. In addition, the large number of NBC Universal channels allows even the smaller competitions to get pretty extensive coverage.

That said, its continued reliance on tape delay in an era when news can make its way around the world in mere seconds is beyond frustrating. Those feelings are increased exponentially by the fact that Rio is only one hour ahead of the United States' East Coast.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com passed along comments about the decision to delay the broadcast from NBC Olympics Chief Marketing Officer John Miller, who explained the network believes the audience is more concerned about the aesthetics than the timing:

"

The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the Games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one. And to tell the truth, it has been the complaint of a few sports writers. It has not been the complaint of the vast viewing public.

"

While that's a reasonable viewpoint, it doesn't explain why NBC can't provide every viewer with their preferred method of watching the event. As mentioned, there's a large umbrella of NBC networks, so they could show the ceremonies live on the NBC Sports Network, CNBC or elsewhere and then provide the more polished version on NBC at 8 p.m. in every time zone.

Alas, NBC is paying a boatload of money—approximately $1.23 billion, per Ahiza Garcia of CNN Money—to broadcast the Olympics. So it continues to make the rules, including the use of outdated tactics like tape delay, and that probably won't change any time soon.

Hopefully for viewers around the United States, especially those on the West Coast who will have to wait four hours to watch the presentation, it'll be worth the wait.

As always, details about the marquee affair are being held close to the vest until Friday. It's hard to keep everything secret when so many people are involved in the rehearsal, which has already taken place.

Alice Foster of the Daily Express reported director Fernando Meirelles chose "to highlight the country's darker side as well as its beauty."

"The ceremony will include a scene in which supermodel Gisele Bundchen is mugged as she walks down the catwalk, according to audience members," the report noted.

One other thing to expect is a little less glamour. Alex Ritson of BBC News provided an outlook from Antonio Abete, whose company is in charge of running the ceremony, about trying to do more with less due to sizable budget restrictions compared to previous Olympics.

"It's much less than London," Abete said. "It's because in Brazil everyone knows what the situation is, economically and politically. It's correct to invest money in the opening ceremony, but I think it's also correct to invest the right money."

He added: "We are completely confident we can create an amazing show, without spending the huge amounts that the previous Olympic ceremonies had."

Ultimately, the opening ceremonies represent an opportunity for Brazil to leave the often sluggish Olympic preparations in the past and turn the focus toward the coming weeks of memorable competition.