NBC Has Big Plans for the Return of the NBA

You probably heard that the NBA is returning to NBC. NBC is excited and the NBA is getting about $1.8 billion a year from the network.

But is the return good for fans. Sure, we get to hear Roundball Rock again. (And again, and again, and again.)

But what is NBC doing for basketball fans?

NBC Sports President Rick Cordella told The Commissioner that fans will benefit from have more NBA games on a broadcast network than ever before. Primetime games will air on Tuesday nights and, after the NFL season ends, Sunday nights.

“Broadcast TV is the best reach vehicle for sports leagues, and you've seen that in the ratings across football and college football,” Cordella said at an event last week at NBC Sports’ facility in Stamford, Connecticut. “We think it has a compounding effect for the league and hopefully for the fans too.”

NBC will be bringing more than nostalgia to the NBA. “We’re going to cover the game differently, taking a lot of what we’ve learned from Sunday Night Football. We’re going to take a lot of the same elements that work there, attention to detail, and bring that to Sunday Night Basketball,” he said.

NBC Sports will also be streaming games on Peacock, where some technical bells and whistles will be employed to engage and educate fans.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was excited about the league working with NBC again. He recalled that former NBC Sports head Dick Ebersol had a sign in his office that said “storytelling.”

“That was a reminder that storytelling is just as important today, even with all of the new technology,” he said. There’s a tremendous amount of partnership around the table.”

In addition to the return of John Tesh’s iconic Roundball Rock, the NBA on NBC will feature an intro performed by Lenny Kravitz shot at Comcast’s Xfinity Center in Philadelphia.

“It’s not often you take on a big sport and start from scratch,” Cordella said. “It’s something that happens once in a career.”

Sam Flood, the long-time executive producer and president of production at NBC Sports, was at the network in 1990, when NBC started its previous 12-year run with the NBA.

“We’re going to bring back touches of nostalgia, but we’re going to move the sport forward and move our broadcast forward,” said Flood. 

“You can see the team we’ve assembled here, generational talent across the board,” Flood said. “We’re going to engage the audience in new ways.”

One of the new ways NBC aims to be special is a lineup of new and experienced voices. Studio analysts will be Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. In game analysts include Jamal Crawford, Reggie Miller, Grant Hill, Brad Daugherty, Derek Fisher, Robbie Hummel, Austin Rivers and Brian Scalabrine.

At the event, McGrady was especially voluble. He talked about remembering watching the NBA on NBC when he was younger. “Thirty five years later, those moments still resonate today,” he said. “We want kids, the fans of today, 35 years from now, to have that same feeling because back in the 90s, the NBA on NBC was inspirational to me.”

McGrady will be teammates with his cousin, Vince Carter, Two two played together for the Raptors. They should have great chemistry. 

He knows what makes me tick, he knows how to push my buttons,” Carter said.

For what its worth, Anthony, the former Knick, predicted that New York would be playing in the Finals. The cousins picked Cleveland.

“Some of my best moments were on NBC,” said Miller, remembering legendary calls from Bob Costas and Marv Albert. “Now we get a chance to deliver some of those calls for some of these young players, and that’s probably what I’m most excited about.”

The NBC on NBA will also be trying some new approaches and new technology made possible by streaming.

Flood said NBC plans an On the Bench feature during its Monday Peacock games, with one analyst reporting on the home team’s strategy and another with the visitors. 

“We thought it would be a unique way to take you inside the game that pairs brilliantly with the tech that Peacock is going to have.  And we’re excited about trying something different,” Flood said. 

Streaming will also enable new technologies for fans.

Silver said that the NBA has had its own research and development operation for the past five years. 

“It is a recognition that nobody is going to be as singularly focused on producing basketball as the NBA,” he said. “We’ve made a significant investment in thinking about exactly how streaming and these new technologies will impact the fan experience.”

He added that the league benefits from its media partner also focusing on the use of technology to enhance live sports telecasts.

“It’s quite incredible the amount of resources they are putting behind their sports properties. I think there’s a recognition that live sports are increasingly differentiallying themselves from virtually all other forms of programming,” Silver said. 

Silver said the league benefits when the media companies compete, but they’re also sharing best practices

“In some cases they have proprietary things they’re doing, but I think ultimately the greatest beneficiary will be the fan,” he said. “Over the next several years we’re going to see personalization, customization, all kinds of functionality. Now with our phones, we carry around televisions with us every we get, especially when you have programming that can't be time shifted, and that makes watching more convenient for them.”  

Peacock games will feature the Peacock Scorecard, a predict-what-will-happen durin the game feature, Courtside Live, which enables viewers to pick camera angles on their TVs or phones while still watching the main broadcast, and Peacock Performance View, a separate feed which lets you know who’s hot, what the right play is and where the next shot should come from.

“I think for casual fans it lets people understand the game more deeply. And for avid fans, it lets you see in more detail what’s going on,” said Jim Denney, chief product officer for the NBCUniversal Media Group. 

The Peacock apps on TV and mobile will also allow viewers to see highlights of all NBA games, no matter who televised them. 

Fans will not be able to better via NBC or Peacock, although DraftKings is a sponsor.

NBC will be trying to get a lot of attention for its new NBA game telecasts.

“We know 60% of NBA fans are nostalgic for the NBA on NBC,” said Jenny Storms, chief marketing officer for NBCU Television and Streaming. NBC will use the nostalgia as a way to bring fans in, and then move onto the next phase.

NBCU will be bringing all of its promotional firepower to getting people to tune into NBC and stream Peacock. 

‘“We reach 85% of Americans every single month. That gives us the opportunity to reach every demographic, every age group with authentic messages and meet people where they are across our platforms,” Storms said. Look for NBA related programming on the Today Show, the Tonight Show, Sunday Night Football, at Universal theme parks and even at NBCU headquarter at 30 Rock in Manhattan. NBC is even targeting you fans, especially young women, with an integration of the NBA into Peacock’s dating show Love Island.

AMAZON DELIVERS

 Speaking the NBA, Amazon Ads announced its roster of sponsors for it games.

CarMax is sponsoring NBA on Prime Pregame, AT&T is sponsoring The Half and serving as the technology provider for the LED court and Amazon Studios’ NBA production studio in Culver City, Universal Orlando Resort is sponsoring The Crossover between double-header games, Wayfair is sponsoring NBA Nightcap, Wingstop is sponsoring Thursday and Friday games., Mercedes-Benz USA is sponsoring Saturday games and State Farm is sponsoring the second-round NBA playoffs. 

The inaugural season of NBA on Prime tips of October 24. Prime Video will stream regular season games, the Emirates NBA Cup, the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament, and the NBA Playoffs. 

(NBC also sold a lot of NBA commercials.)

CHECK ME OUT

A bit about me. I’ve been doing some segments on the streaming channel SportsGrid on Fridays at 12:45 p.m. Here’s a clip from my first appearance: