NEW YORK – Audiences have grown accustomed to watchingSteve Kornacki, the chief data analyst atNBC Newsand NBC Sports, break down numbers pertaining to both elections and major sporting events on his signature big board. Kornacki's coverage is called upon for election nights,the Super Bowlandthe Olympics.
But for as complex as those statistics can be, the person recalling all of the information tries to keep things pretty simple. On a cold February afternoon, Kornacki eschews a black car or Uber and makes the relatively short walk from 30 Rock to the USA TODAY newsroom inhis trademark khakisand a pair of New Balance sneakers. And while he realizes that people think he has a "closet full of hundreds" of khaki pants, in reality, the journalist says he only has "two or three." Growing up, elections and sports were his passions. Fashion was not.
"My mom was always trying to make me a little bit more fashionable and stuff, and I always kind of resisted," Kornacki, 46, recalls to USA TODAY of his upbringing in Massachusetts. "So maybe I have some aversion to it," he adds with a laugh, while also noting that he's "never really had good answers" for questions about his wardrobe.
The fascination with Kornacki's attire began after the 2020 election. With the COVID lockdown, the journalist recalls that there "was really nobody in 30 Rock." Thinking nothing of the pants he was wearing at the time, Kornacki tucked in his shirt so it looked neater, put on a tie and went on the set.
"And then a day or two later, my producer's asking me, 'What brand of pants are you wearing?' " Kornacki says. "I said, 'What kind of a question is this?' "
Thepants were from Gap. Kornacki has since traded in the khaki color for a darker blue. But what has not changed, even in this day of AI and algorithms, is his approach to preparing for election nights.
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"I print out blank county maps of states and I fill them in myself," Kornacki says of his "old-school process," which he's currently in the middle of with twoTexas senate primarieson March 3. "I have a whole color-coding system, based on past election results, based on demographic patterns, and I update them after every election."
Kornacki explains that the repetition of filling out the maps ahead of every election cycle gives him a better chance at recalling information without pausing or freezing up. Some of his prep can also be seen on the night of the election; NBC streams"Kornacki Cam,"an alternate angle of the broadcast focused solely on the journalist. The additional screen, which is live during both the broadcast and commercial breaks, will return for NBC's coverage of the primaries in March. The last"Kornacki Cam"in December racked up more than 1.5 million views across all platforms.
And so when Kornacki wraps this interview, he'll walk back to his office and continue to study the 254 counties in Texas. He's also in the middle of Winter Olympics coverage, which is why he walked over in the first place. The games in Milan have spurred a new assignment for the journalist: an online series called "Keeping Score With Kornacki."
Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
See emotional moments of triumph and defeat at 2026 Winter Olympics
Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina2026 Winter Olympicsat Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event.
Steve Kornacki helps viewers keep score during the Winter Games
It is a dizzying month of sports at the Peacock network: NBC broadcast the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game and is now airing the Winter Olympics. "Keeping Up With Kornacki," launched ahead of the Winter Games, can be seen by NBC News subscribers on thenetwork's websiteor app. Kornacki has brought the same mindset from election and football coverage to this project: learn something new and share it with the audience. The journalist brings up the Olympic debut of "skimo," ski mountaineering, as an example of a sport that was perfect for his series.
"I call this one skiing without the chairlift," he jokes. "Basically, they race up the hill, then they turn around and race back down the hill and there's permutations within that. But how does that work? How do you keep score? What are the rules of that? What are people watching?
"What I love about the Olympics is just so many of these sports are so exotic and so different than anything that I'm thinking about or dealing with day-to-day," Kornacki says. Recent segments have covered bobsledding and speed skating. "It's really fun to try to figure out what the structure of these sports is, and again, I think a lot of people have that experience watching these games."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NBC's Steve Kornacki talks khakis, NBC Olympics series 'Keeping Score'
