From the Editor: Plugged In

As you read this, NBC Sports Group has begun to transfer its broadcast operations and move in 500+ staffers into a state-of-the-art facility on Blachley Road that will centralize its network, cable and digital programming. The transfer process should be completed in a few months.

What this means is that everything you see on NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network, including, on an exclusive basis, the Olympics, NHL games, the Tour de France, Major League Soccer matches, Formula 1 racing and my personal favorite—the Barclay’s Premier League soccer season—will be produced and transmitted from Stamford.

This is heady scoop, in part because NBC Sports Group joins other corporate power players concentrating operations in town. As Governor Dannel Malloy pointed out (see page 52), they join NBCUniversal and the Connecticut Film Center in Stamford, and ESPN in Bristol, to make Connecticut a regional TV production hot spot. It is a trend that promises to attract other big names. For viewing sports fans, this also matters since the depth and artistry of the NBC Sports content, and the editorial vision behind its production, will be directly shaped by the planning that went into designing the headquarters and its amenities. This was evident after the sneak-preview tours the folks at the peacock network gave us, and the inside track shared by some key executives.

In this issue we also bring you our second annual Insider’s Guide with our 75 reasons to love Stamford. Once again we looked beyond what is widely considered “the best” to alert you to what lies under the radar, with a goal of showing you what makes living and working in Stamford better than anywhere else. (Just ask NBC Sports!)

I’ll fill you in on a little secret, though. When planning this edition of what is already a popular feature, I was initially nervous about coming up with a whole new collection of must-dos and must-knows. I shouldn’t have worried.

Since last year’s edition hit newsstands, your ideas poured in, and we’ve been keeping our own admittedly subjective working list. Before we knew it, we had come up with more than we could fit in. After you take a look at our cover feature (see pg. 43), visit stamfordmag.com for more from our personal vault of insider information.