United States broadcaster NBC reportedly made a request to the International Olympic Committee for the Parade of Nations to be conducted in English alphabetical order rather than Portuguese, stating that American TV viewership would be affected if the U.S. team entered in the middle of the parade as "Estados Unidos" in Portuguese instead of near the end of the parade as "United States" in English. The IOC refused NBC's request, as it runs contrary to the Olympic rules stating that nations enter in the alphabetical order of the language of the host country.