NBC Sports has officially hired Jamal Crawford as one of its NBA analysts. Plus: Fox Sports has set its IndyCar broadcast team, the Reds are returning to FanDuel Sports Network, and the UFC is seeking a major-league payday in its next rights deal.
NBC officially announces Jamal Crawford hire
NBC Sports officially announced Tuesday that it has hired former TNT NBA analyst Jamal Crawford, who will serve as a “a lead game analyst” for the network’s NBA coverage that begins next season. Crawford, who transitioned from the studio to game analysis on TNT last season, is expected to call a game a week for the NBC package — which for most of the season will consist of Tuesday regional games on the NBC broadcast network and Monday games that are exclusive to Peacock.
Crawford is not appearing on national television this season, but is working select games as a fill-in analyst for Walt “Clyde” Frazier on MSG.
The Crawford announcement is just the latest move by the incoming NBA broadcasters NBC and Amazon. The latter announced last week that it has tapped former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin as studio analysts alongside host Taylor Rooks.
Amazon is also reportedly close to a deal to sign Kevin Harlan as its secondary play-by-play voice behind Ian Eagle, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Tuesday.
Fox Sports sets IndyCar team
Fox Sports said Tuesday that it has selected lap-by-lap voice Will Buxton and analysts James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell to serve as the broadcast team for its IndyCar coverage that begins this season. Hinchcliffe and Bell served as the analyst duo for NBC’s IndyCar coverage, while Buxton has most recently worked in-house for Formula 1.
Fox acquired rights to IndyCar last season and will carry all races on its broadcast network.
In other motorsports news, CW is hiring Adam Alexander as its lap-by-lap voice for NASCAR Xfinity Series coverage, alongside analysts Jamie McMurray and Parker Kligerman, per Sports Business Journal.
Reds returning to FanDuel Sports Network
The Cincinnati Reds have reached a deal to return to FanDuel Sports Network next season, an about face after the team was set to have its games distributed by Major League Baseball. The Reds are the second team to return to FDSN after previously agreeing to take their rights in-house, joining the Milwaukee Brewers. As with the Brewers, the deal is only for this season.
MLB remains slated to produce games for the Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins and Guardians this season.
The Reds are the first team to reach a deal with Main Street Sports (formerly known as Diamond Sports Group) — the parent company of the FanDuel-branded RSNs — since it exited bankruptcy earlier this month. Main Street Sports now has rights to nine Major League Baseball teams, down from 14 at the outset.
UFC seeks billions per year in new rights deal
UFC is seeking more than $1 billion/year in its next media rights deal, Bloomberg reported last week, which would more-than-double its current fee of around $300 million/year. The combat sports venture is entering an exclusive negotiating window with current partner ESPN next month and is believed to have interest in splitting rights among multiple partners.
