Akin to professional sports free agency, NBC Sports executives came ready with a comprehensive pitch to the NBA last spring to resume a partnership that ended more than two decades ago. As soon as the NBA incumbents’ exclusive negotiating window ended, NBC Sports president Rick Cordella told the Sports Media Watch Podcast recently that NBC formally demonstrated its interest to the league the very next morning.
The NBA was aiming to increase its rights fees while broadening its distribution, and NBCUniversal ultimately came through on both fronts. Tuesday night marks the beginning of a sweeping 11-year accord featuring regular-season and playoff games on broadcast television and direct-to-subscriber streaming.
“We gained more interest in the NBA after we had some success with the NFL Wild Card Game and sports’ overall success on Peacock, and again, we were kind of looking to where sports media was going in the future,” Cordella said on the SMW Podcast. “And again, I think sports has never been as valuable as it is today as a content type in terms of pay TV, in terms of dealmaking, in terms of distributors, so all that sort of helped give us confidence to go after the NBA, but you just never know.”
From John Tesh and his iconic “Roundball Rock” musical composition to an AI-recreation of the voice of narrator Jim Fagan, NBC Sports is not neglecting its roots. Yet the company is simultaneously embracing innovation with advanced functionalities exclusive to Peacock, refreshed graphics and new methods to deliver the action. NBC Sports is weaving old and new as it emerges from a lengthy pause.
“We’re obviously going to lean into the past, but we’re going to build forward and grow the game and grow with the game,” Sam Flood, executive producer and EVP at NBC Sports, said in media availability. “If we went all the way back and did our old-school telecast, you wouldn’t see the scoreboard in full-time. You wouldn’t see a lot of things that are common in sports now.”
The ‘NBA on NBC’ makes its courtside return
NBC Sports has assembled a talent roster of veteran broadcasters and former players anchored by longtime play-by-play announcer and host Mike Tirico. Beginning this season, he will add NBA matchups to his slate of responsibilities that also includes working on “Sunday Night Football,” the Olympics and other special events. Tirico, a longtime voice for ESPN, acknowledged the importance the NBA holds at NBC.
“When NBC lost the NBA and it went to ESPN, I was the studio host and one of the play-by-play announcers [for ESPN], and that was from when we got the rights there in ‘02 all the way until I left in 2016, so there’s a natural connection of a decade-and-a-half with the league,” Tirico said. “I love the energy of the buildings, what the NBA brings, and to be a part of it one more time is just awesome.”
Tirico, who called two NBA games for NBC’s regional sports networks last spring to prepare for the new assignments, will be working with one or both of Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford for the Western Conference Finals to conclude the first-year slate.
“I think all of us have a connection — a chemistry, a friendship — that’s very natural because so many people have done this, so developing that would be really easy, but especially that core group that I’ll probably be doing most of the games with,” Tirico said. “I don’t even think twice about building that with those guys [because] I know them, I’ve covered them, and I’ve watched them through their media careers as well, so it’ll be a piece of cake.”
For Miller, the move to NBC is a rare change of scenery for a player who spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers, and a broadcaster who until now spent his entire post-playing career with TNT Sports.
“Nineteen years with Turner, that was my first family,” Miller said. “They were my introduction in terms of being on the other side of the media world. Great relationships there – they chose not to renew their license, and [I am] very fortunate and blessed that NBC came a calling, and it kind of shows that they value my work by listening and watching our games, so it’s good to continue just running in the television world.”
Throughout the offseason, Miller has been watching the “Football Night in America” studio program more intently, focusing on technical aspects such as cadence and delivery. Despite the inherent differences between football and basketball, he was able to discern some elements of NBC broadcasts.
“It’ll be a trial by error, and there will be three-man booths as well too, so working with myself, Jamal and Mike and Noah, so it’ll be a learning adjustment,” Miller said. “But I’ve worked with so many play-by-play guys from Marv Albert, obviously Kevin Harlan, Brian Anderson, so I’ve had a lot of guys and a lot of work with different guys with different cadence, and you learn over time how to get in and get out.”
While Crawford retired from the league in 2022, he has already accumulated national broadcast experience on TNT and NBA TV. In his new role as a game analyst, he will work in two- and three-person booths, and he is also slated to make his studio debut on Monday, Nov. 3. Crawford remembers listening to Bob Costas call games on NBC and going outside to practice his dribbling during commercial breaks.
“It lit a fire in me, and never in a million years did I think I would be working with this great team,” Crawford told reporters. “….You grow up letting them play a soundtrack to your childhood and how it can inspire you, and then having an opportunity to play a small part in that going forward. Obviously, the nostalgia is there, but we’re also looking towards the future.”
Blending tradition and innovation
Among the new innovations this season is the “On the Bench” initiative, in which game analysts will be stationed beside the opposing team benches during select Monday night games on Peacock. The format will enable the broadcasters to speak with personnel prior to the game, listen during timeouts and report information directly from the bench. The new venture will make its debut next week as NBC Sports airs a game between the Cavaliers and Pistons exclusively on the streaming platform.
“Noah [Eagle] did a rehearsal game out West with Austin Rivers and Robbie Hummel serving as the on-the-bench reporters, and they were able to see each other across the way,” Flood said. “There was no issue with them talking over each other. But you’ve got to flow, and we’re confident that they’ll build into that flow as we do this week after week on Monday nights on Peacock with a unique and, we hope, special way to shine new light on the NBA.”
Eagle has called NBA games for the LA Clippers and Brooklyn Nets in the early stages of his career, and he is preparing to become a regular national presence. Eagle grew up watching his father Ian thrive in sports broadcasting as the voice of the Nets and recalls watching Nets games on NBC during the team’s upswing. NBC’s final NBA game to-date was a Nets home game, Game 4 of the 2002 NBA Finals.
“My entire life has been entrenched in it, and as a result, it’s a pretty simple transition back over because I never stopped paying attention,” Eagle said. “So I’m excited because I just feel like I’ve got a lot of historical and fundamental knowledge of the game and its players and the background of kind of how all this works, so I’m just looking forward to kind of putting that out there for the public.”
As part of opening night, viewers will catch a glimpse of six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan starting his role as a special contributor at the network in the first installment of “MJ: Insights to Excellence.” Aside from the pre-recorded segment airing at halftime of the Rockets-Thunder game, no other information is known about the parameters of Jordan’s involvement on the broadcasts.
“I think he feels as though that he has a passion for the game, that there are things that he thinks about the game that he wants to maybe get off his chest, and so you’ll see him talk about high-level topics about the game of basketball and the NBA in 2025,” Cordella said. “And so you’ll certainly see him opening night, but beyond that, I think I’ll just say ‘Tune in.’”
Waiting 23 years for Tuesday night
NBC lost the broadcast rights to the NBA one season before Jordan played his final season in 2003. A few months later, third-overall pick Carmelo Anthony made his debut suiting up for the Nuggets and rose to stardom alongside a rookie class that also included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Two decades later, Anthony has been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and he is also staying connected to the game through media ventures. Anthony, alongside Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Maria Taylor, will debut as a studio analyst on “NBA Showtime” this Tuesday. Having starred for the New York Knicks over seven seasons, he is shifting his view from interacting with the media to stepping behind the microphone.
“It’s definitely a different perspective,” Anthony said. “I have a better, more keen understanding of what the media does and how it’s kind of just played down and how you go about that. But for me, I’m on the other side now, so I get a chance to – again, I get a chance to talk to the media now and try to understand what is the thought processes of the media and allowing myself to acknowledging that I am part of the media now.”
Anthony, who will continue hosting his “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast, sees his new television role as an opportunity to, in his words, “get into the player’s mind.”
“For me, that was the best thing growing up,” Anthony said. “I got a chance to learn Vince Carter, I got a chance to learn T-Mac. I got a chance to see them and build them and grow with them and hear the stories that [were] being told about them, so when you start bringing in that storytelling element and getting back into who that person and who that player really is, it alleviates a lot of the nonsense that you have to speak about.”
In February, NBC Sports will present the NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl LX and the Winter Olympic Games in a 22-day span. For now, the NBA takes center stage as NBC prepares to end a 23-year hiatus and tip off a new era on the hardwood.
“Hopefully for those folks that remember fondly of the ‘90s era on NBC, they’ll be completely happy and feel like a warm blanket,” Cordella explained, “and then for those that maybe aren’t of a certain age that don’t remember it, they’re going to look at it and say, ‘This is a well produced basketball game that’s in the NBC style and quality,’ and so we’ll try and push that forward.’”
