Olympics Closing Ceremony Live Stream 2016: How to Catch the Action from Rio

All good things must come to an end—even the Rio Olympics.

But every great event deserves a great party to see it off, and the 2016 Games are no exception. Below, we'll break down the time of the closing ceremony, how to watch it and preview the close of this summer's Olympics.

Schedule

Date	Time	Watch	Stream
Sunday, Aug. 21	7 p.m. ET	NBC	NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app

Preview

JEFF PACHOUD/Getty Images

The closing ceremony will usher out the Rio Games, but it will usher in a brand-new venture: the Olympic Channel. 

The new channel will broadcast content based on Olympic events like track and field and swimming, to name two. The idea is to keep fans interested in those events year-round, not just every four years. 

“This is just the starting point, not the end point,” Yiannis Exarchos, the head of the new channel, told the Associated Press. “We want to be able to surprise people and make it look different. It’s not an institutional tool. This is about telling stories in a way that can bring younger people to the world of sports.”

As for the event itself, however, expect more music and dancing. Kygo will be performing, per Billboard, though much of the ceremony is being held under wraps.

The event may be as meaningful for who is skipping it as it is for who is actually attending or performing. Ben Ashford of the Daily Mail reported that a number of athletes had already headed home on Tuesday, including tennis star Venus Williams.

Meanwhile, Brazil's interim president, Michel Temer, will be skipping the event, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today). He was booed heartily during the opening ceremony amid political unrest in the nation. 

The ceremony is expected to last for around three hours and, as always, will include the passing of the torch to the next host—Tokyo in 2020. This year's Olympic flame will also be extinguished.

Certainly, the closing ceremony will have a lot to live up to on Sunday. The opening ceremony was fantastic, but more importantly, the 2016 Games have been phenomenal.

Who will be able to forget Michael Phelps continuing his dominance, or Katie Ledecky beginning hers on the Olympic stage? How about Usain Bolt remaining the world's fastest man, Simone Biles dominating the gymnastics world or Fiji winning the first gold medal in the country's history in rugby?

The list goes on and on. Rio has been the gift that keeps on giving. On Sunday, we'll open our final present. 

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.