Olympics Media: Softball Television Schedule Set for Tokyo Games Starting Next Week

After a hiatus of over 4,700 days–that’s almost 13 years to those counting–softball in the Olympics is just a week away and now we know when and how we can watch the Games.

The official television schedule for the Tokyo Olympic Softball competition has been announced by NBCUniversal, the official broadcast television network for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Set to be held July 21-August 8, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, the U.S. Olympic Softball Team will kick off the Games on July 21 on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) at 11 p.m. ET as the 17-game competition spans from July 21-27 at Fukushima Azuma Stadium and Yokohama Stadium.
​
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 will mark 4,717 days since the last Olympic softball game was played at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where Team USA fell short of earning their fourth-consecutive Gold Medal with a 3-1 loss to Japan.

Now, after a 13-year hiatus from the Olympic program, the sport of softball returns with the U.S. looking to reclaim the Gold Medal.

In Tokyo, Team USA will join No. 2 Japan, No. 3 Canada, No. 5 Mexico, No. 8 Australia and No. 9 Italy as the field of six countries competing for the Gold.

As the host country, Japan earned an automatic berth while Team USA punched their ticket to the Olympic Games after winning the 2018 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Softball World Championship.

Italy earned their spot in Tokyo after winning the WBSC Softball Europe/Asia Qualifier, while Canada and Mexico qualified as the top two teams from the WBSC Women’s Softball Americas Qualifier.

Australia punched the last ticket to Tokyo by winning the WBSC Softball Asia/Oceania Qualifier.
​
Team USA has played all five other teams within the last seven years and will look to advance to their fifth gold medal game on July 27.

Please visit nbcolympics.com to view the complete television schedule.
​
NOTE: Tokyo, Japan is 13 hours ahead of USA Eastern Time.
​