Studies on racial framing in sports media point to the existence of a ‘colour-blind racism’ (Bonilla-Silva et al., Sociological forum 19:555–581, 2004), where racism is hidden in structures, processes and ideologies and transported through repetitive narratives. Critical race theory centralises race in analysis of power hierarchies that perpetuate a ‘coded racism’ through racial frames in sports media which highlight cultural difference in the formation of insider-outsider groups. This chapter analyses findings from a content analysis of local TV sports news in the UK, covering the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to COVID-19). Based on a research design by Entman and Rojecki (The Black image in the White mind: Media and race in America. University of Chicago Press, 2000), 82 programmes were coded for race of contributors and experts and a measurement of ‘social status’ appraised in the depiction of white people and Persons of Colour (PoC). ‘Production status’ was also recorded using an observation of apparent production resources used in the news-making process and the quality of this portrayal through measurement of speaking times. Findings indicate white contributors and experts were overrepresented in ‘centrally focused’ positive portrayals. ‘Production status’ results were most pronounced in the pre-coverage period which showed a skewed use of resources to profile white athletes. White-centrist reporting privileged the voices of white athletes, normalising their status as experts whilst framing athletes of colour in lower social status activities.