One of the biggest winners at the Winter Olympics in Italy was NBC Sports for its use of drones.
Television viewers got an up-close look at many of the athletes as they were competing thanks to first-person view drones. “Milan Cortina marks the first time the first-person technology is being used en masse during the Games,” Front Office Sports reported.
“Drones keep getting better, faster, smaller, more agile and longer-lasting,” Mike Sheehan, NBC’s coordinating director for the Olympics, told Front Office Sports. “Because of that, we’re finally able to see how beautiful they are to integrate into broadcasts at scale.”
With drones being such a big hit at the Olympics, could we see more of that usage in other sporting events? Absolutely, and baseball could be the next sport to fully embrace the technology.
Cullen Maxey, the Royals’ president of business operations, talked earlier this month about the possibility of drones being used for game coverage now that Major League Baseball has taken over the team’s broadcasts.
While talking about his excitement about games moving from FanDuel Sports Kansas City to Royals.TV, Maxey mentioned the potential of drone usage.
“Baseball is in their DNA, and they have hired some top-notch directors and producers from the past,” Maxey said of MLB productions. “It’s a very similar staff. It’s basically the same production staff that does everything. They just bring some more investment to it, and the eye for baseball and how to produce those games. And so I think it’ll be noticed. That, in addition to, obviously, the technology … make it pretty neat.
“I know that as teams start to get more comfortable with drone footage, that could be something we might see down the road, if that is something that’s approved for MLB regular-season use. I can guarantee you MLB will want to do it with our teams they’re working with.”
Drones have been used at the World Series and All-Star Game, but this would be something new for Royals coverage.
Maxey came to the Royals in November, after working with the Diamondbacks. Arizona rolled out some new technological advances after MLB took over Diamondbacks broadcasts while Maxey was there.
“I know in Arizona, we were one of the first teams to get the wire cam, and then we tested the base cam,” Maxey said. “And with everything coming this year with the (ABS) challenge system, who knows what they might test with some local teams? It’ll be neat.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 8:57 AM.
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