NBA should be doing everything to strengthen that connection
More than nostalgia: How NBC thrived and how ESPN failed with the NBA!
- Thread starter FAH1223
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Rasille
All Star
NBC’s presentation was top notch the stakes felt like life or death. Bob Costas or Marv Albert in the intro setting the mood for the game, playing up the storylines and using that as a selling point. If 2024 Pacers/Knicks was on NBC they’d tell us how the Pacers are playing with house money, while the Knicks while battered and bruised have a lot to lose. Tell us how Brunson has the weight of an entire city on his shoulder juxtaposed to Haliburton coming in to the Garden to break their fans hearts.
Rasille
All Star
Wow that was a great article and brutal indictment on ESPN
NYC Rebel
...on the otherside of the pond
NBA on NBC was Michael Jordan dikk sucking montages. The second he wasnt on, the ratings tanked.
Many of you simply are nostalgic but that was a recipe for failure.
There will never be another MJ.
Many of you simply are nostalgic but that was a recipe for failure.
There will never be another MJ.
Rell84shots
Veteran
Outside of J-Will's shirt there's nothing wild here at all.
NBC dropping the NBA because the audience was too black is crazy
Only thing coming back from 90s NBC is maybe Roundball Rock. MJ, Marv Albert & Costas ain’t walking through that door
I’m just hoping we get production value similar to what SNF gets
It’s not crazy considering by the late 90s-00s, the OTA networks had largely abandoned and no longer wanted to appeal to the black audience with sitcoms (except for the UPN). For example FOX canceled Living Single despite it being the top rated black sitcom on TV. But Living Single was never in the Top 50 rated shows, so its value wasn’t as high. In fact, by 1999, the number of black sitcoms had dropped dramatically, even WB was canceling black sitcoms left and right. So NBC seeing that NBA ratings were only up in black households and not overall was something they weren’t thrilled with.
"For ESPN, the games are not immortal. The players certainly are not; ESPN has spent LeBron James’ entire 20-year career questioning his skill, mettle and worthiness. (NBC sought to create the next Michael Jordan, ESPN uses Jordan as a cudgel with which to diminish every player who came after.)"
Been saying this. People act like ESPN constantly talking about Lebron has boosted his status, but it's the opposite.
Been saying this. People act like ESPN constantly talking about Lebron has boosted his status, but it's the opposite.
Marlow Stanfield
Superstar
Holy shyt, the number of times we've watched close, intense battles on the court and immediately after the game it's a bald guy in the studio by himself is the epitome of buzzkill. Nevermind the fact that he starts talking about other sports that have nothing to do with what we just watched.
Beyond MJ, they knew how to tease a game with their intro montages and dialogues.
They elevated the profiles of Hakeem, Ewing, Miller, Malone, Robinson, Drexler, Barkley, etc.
CBS also knew how to tell a story about the NBA.
RammerJammer
#RollTide #TSC #RiseUp #BullsNation #RIPKobe
ESPN has never had great NBA coverage but I do feel like between 2010-2016 they were solid, but it seems like the past few years, their coverage has just went down shytter. Honestly you can say that about most of the sports they carry except College Football and Golf.
