Sports Media Watch presents thoughts on recent events in the industry, starting with the final night of the NBA on TNT.
As the “NBA on TNT” faded into sports television history in the concourse of Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday night, it was difficult not to see it as a momentous occasion. Yes, networks lose rights all the time, but when NBC signed off of the NBA in 2002, there were not throngs in Continental Airlines Arena chanting “NBC, NBC, NBC!” When the NHL signed off of NBC 19 years later, the network was not even on-site due to COVID, wrapping up its 14-year tenure in a Stamford, Connecticut studio.
When NBC aired the NFL for the final time (for eight years, anyway), the final shot was Greg Gumbel being attacked by John Lithgow as part of a special transition into the Super Bowl lead-out show, “Third Rock From the Sun,” that one writer called “embarrassingly hokey.” That is how NBC ended what was a 32-year relationship. (This piece did not intend to lead with three NBC examples, but how many other networks have lost so many long-term major sports rights in the past 30 years?)
Unlike scripted series, the series finales of major sports properties are generally just for the true fans. The game itself is of course a draw. But the TV coverage of said game matters to relative few, as most viewers will switch off at the 0:00 or shortly after. Anyone watching the NHL on NBC into the final segment — on the now-defunct NBCSN — was either a sports media aficionado, a true blue NHL fan, or had fallen asleep with the television on.
Yet whether on social media or in person — where Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson looked at times like papal or political figures gesturing, arms-outstretched, to the throngs below — the end of the NBA on TNT was an ‘event’ akin to the “Seinfeld” four being arrested and incarcerated, Sam threatening to abandon “Cheers” and run away with Diane, “Frasier” having to navigate a wedding, a birth, and a hasty move from Seattle. It was a series finale in all ways except for the last one out turning off the lights; instead, after the main cast cleared the set, left behind were the lingering strains of the Trevor Rabin theme music.
In some ways it makes sense. The NBA on TNT was anything but the typical sports broadcast. During its prime years, which coincided with Charles Barkley’s arrival in 2000, it was a rollicking ride from the pregame to the postgame.
Thus, it ended appropriately, in front of a jubilant Pacers crowd celebrating an unexpected run to the NBA Finals. Both at Game 4 Tuesday and especially at Game 6 Saturday, the crowd was not just there to bask in the glow of their team’s victory, but to celebrate the network that carried it. There are few parallels in sports television.
TV, real life, and their parallels
There was once a time when ESPN was so loved that people named their children after the network. For a little bit in 2008 — somewhere before “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” — there was a decent chance that the nation’s second daughter would be named “Bristol,” after the network’s headquarters. Even TNT has never inspired that level of devotion.
But even ESPN has rarely if ever inspired people to chant its name in celebration. Perhaps that is because four letters do not lend themselves to chants as well as three. Or perhaps that is because the NBA on TNT was something different than the norm.
When “Around the Horn” ended just over a week ago, the emotion surrounding a half-hour sports debate program seemed somewhat over the top. (There is an entire “Sports Media Watch Podcast” segment on the cutting room floor expressing some level of disbelief about the level of feeling.) It made a bit more sense watching the finale, which opened with host Tony Reali doing a little “Goodfellas” homage that included his children.
There is something to be said about the passage of time and the surprising intimacy of mass media. Few viewers of “Around the Horn” have met Reali or interacted with him on social media. But that little half-hour of television he hosted for 21 years gave viewers a window to his growth from a fresh-out-of-college “Stat Boy” to a father, and all of the life milestones and tragedies along that journey. Watching his journey can help put one’s own into context.
For this writer, the “NBA on TNT” begins with a physical glossy brochure listing the NBA’s nationally televised games. Indeed, one is going so far back that the schedules were not solely on webpages, but printed out and distributed. It begins with Ernie Johnson’s voice, not on television, but on “NBA Live ’98,” where he sets up each computerized matchup (with Verne Lundquist on the call). (Johnson, by the way, was a playable character in the game with the right cheat code.)
From there, it is occasional nights watching Ernie and Kenny Smith in the Atlanta studio, largely as a duo, sometimes with others. One night, Johnson breaks into a game to tell viewers that Barkley has suffered an injury in his return to Philadelphia. Not long after, viewers would see Barkley with increasing regularity alongside Johnson and Smith, joining them full-time the following season.
As the show enters its prime, the “NBA on TNT” is a weekly appointment (nightly during the playoffs). It is, perhaps along with “The Daily Show,” the leading edge of the television zeitgeist — irreverent, unpredictable, entirely fresh. Parallel with the growth of the studio team is that of the game crew, with Marv Albert becoming the official lead voice once NBC loses its rights, and the new media rights deal giving TNT blue-chip properties like the NBA All-Star Game and a full conference final.
During this period, this writer has the privilege of going to Turner’s Atlanta studios twice. The first time, Barkley was absent due to a death in the family, making it the final night that TNT’s studio team was just Johnson and Smith. The second time was a make-up, and just happened to be the night LeBron James and the Cavaliers got routed 120-88 by the Celtics in Game 5 of the second round, essentially beginning the “Decision” era. In some ways, the night the NBA changed.
TNT is fully established by the 2010s, and with the addition of Shaquille O’Neal, the incredible chemistry of Johnson, Smith and Barkley is never quite the same. O’Neal is not a bad addition per se, but he changes the mix sufficiently that the pre-Shaq version may as well be a different show. The Rebecca version of “Cheers” is fundamentally different than the Diane version, and it makes sense if one has a distinct preference.
By the final years, TNT starts to rest on its laurels a bit, maybe is not as creative and original as it used to be. The studio crew is reliant more on references to past events, maybe a little low-hanging fruit (“Jenna!” Shaq beckons in the final shows, referencing a Twitter user whose name was a sophomoric pun). Some folks have aged out, like the now-retired Albert. Some have long passed away, like Craig Sager.
The best television shows have their own life cycle, starting out with potential, before hitting their stride with fresh, new material, becoming established staples of the industry in their prime years, and then gently slowing down.
That also, of course, parallels real life.
The routine of watching the same show over decades can help paper over the life transitions that are taking place at the same time. When that routine ends, it is an opportunity to put that time in context. Perhaps that means going from a preteen to the father of one, or from a young parent to a grandparent. But whether all 40 of Turner Sports’ NBA years or just a subtantial portion, such a length of time will inevitably take a viewer from one stage of life to a second, or even a third.
The meaning of TV for the audience
There was once a turf war in academia — known only in those spaces and completely irrelevant to the general public, as is all-too-commonly the case in academia — between political economy of media (PEM) and cultural studies. At the risk of severe oversimplification, the PEM position is that media can advance certain ideologies onto the public, and the cultural studies position is that the public has the ability to create their own meanings out of the media they consume.
The reality is that one can only view media through the lens of personal experience. Yes, media have tremendous powers of suggestion, but those efforts only work if you, the viewer, interpret those messages accordingly. TNT could not simply celebrate itself and force everyone to go along with it, the viewers had to feel that it was worthy of that celebration. Nobody was paid, manipulated or bamboozled into chanting “TNT, TNT, TNT.”
Some might have done so just to be on TV, or just to be part of the crowd, or as part of the joy of the Pacers’ accomplishment — but if there was not an authentic feeling in that moment, it simply could not have happened as it did. At the French Open Sunday, Adam Lefkoe tried to encourage the same “TNT, TNT, TNT!” chants and, as he joked himself, it “didn’t go over well.” It sounded like one person chanted along.
These endings of late, whether of the “NBA on TNT,” or “Around the Horn,” or even SportsCenter’s L.A. edition, have been personal mile markers. You might think about the first time you watched, or the routines that you had while watching, the people you would watch with — whether they are here now or not. We define ourselves in part by the media we consume, for better or worse.
Not every sports media property inspires such feelings. It is hard to have an emotional connection to ESPN’s ever-changing NBA cast, for example. It is also true that viewers have to be positively disposed to the product, which is not always the case for a long-running sports TV series — from the aforementioned NBA on ESPN to NASCAR on FOX.
Chalk it up to continuity, likability or simply lightning in a bottle. Whatever the reason, these shows meant something to viewers that went beyond the norm.
A related note
A small market series featuring stars who as of yet are not broadly known, the upcoming Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals will be hard-pressed to match even the viewership of last year’s Celtics-Mavericks series — the least-watched non-COVID Finals since 2007. Viewership could even be on the level of the COVID-delayed Bucks-Suns Finals in July 2021 (or lower given that series went six and Oklahoma City is an overwhelming favorite). The games nonetheless go on, and Sports Media Watch will be on-site for every game of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City (Ben Huddleston) and Indianapolis (me).
MLB misses another opportunity
It is hard to envision any league coming off of its most-watched championship series in years and not scheduling the first regular season rematch for Nielsen-rated television. Yet Major League Baseball set the first Yankees-Dodgers game of the season for Apple TV+ Friday night. It is increasingly clear that the relationship between MLB and Apple is more than a fling; Apple is the leading candidate among streamers to acquire the expiring ESPN package, Sports Business Journal reported Monday.
There is much to like about Apple’s coverage, particularly the aesthetically-pleasing graphics and image quality, but the first Yankees-Dodgers World Series rematch should have been on a major network (and earlier than 10 PM ET). There is precedent; after their back-to-back ALCS, the first Red Sox-Yankees game in the 2005 season aired in a Friday night window on FOX. Considering what FOX airs on Friday nights nowadays — a year-round lineup of live sports that outside of college football consists of low-wattage properties — there is no reason why that game (and Juan Soto’s first return to Yankee Stadium two weeks earlier) could not have aired on the network. (If Apple has any level of Friday night exclusivity, it certainly does not apply to games on MLB Network — which regularly competes with the streamer.)
