Sports Media Watch looks at the decade’s five biggest moves that did not happen — and the ramifications if they had. Much of this is pure speculation.
Honorable mention: Al Michaels stays on Monday Night Football (2006)
A lot of people forget that Al Michaels actually signed an eight-year deal with ESPN to broadcast Monday Night Football games on the network. Michaels would have been paired with Joe Theismann in a two-man booth, had he not asked out of the deal in early 2006.
What would the impact on sports media have been if Michaels had stayed put? For one, there is no Tony Kornheiser experiment, which means we likely never get Ron Jaworski in the booth (a move that was made in part because of the chemistry between Jaworksi and Kornheiser). Theismann would almost certainly still be with ESPN.
Additionally, Michaels would more-than-likely still be ABC’s lead NBA announcer.
Meanwhile, NBC would have tapped Tom Hammond — or even Cris Collinsworth — to serve as the play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Football. After Michaels signed his deal with ESPN, NBC’s Dick Ebersol said Hammond was “at the top for just about any list that I could put together” (Sports Business Daily, 7/27/05). The net was also “quietly [grooming] Cris Collinsworth for the play-by-play job” (New York Times, 2/9/06), even having him call “several rehearsal games at stadiums” (NYT, 1/24/06).
#5: Charles Barkley signs with NBC (2000)
NBC figured to have the inside track on getting Charles Barkley back in ’00. “I was gonna go to NBC,” Barkley said in an interview last year, “I had already [talked to them]. Dick Ebersol was the first person to [suggest] I go into television” (Yahoo!, 12/11/08). What changed?
As Turner’s Tim Kiely told SMW earlier this month, Barkley thought that “we, quote, were having the most fun” (Sports Media Watch, 12/10/09). Barkley said as much himself in ’00: “I’m not a stuffy type of guy, and NBC seemed a lot more straight-laced. ? [Turner’s] Ernie [Johnson Jr.] and Kenny [Smith] seem like they’re having a lot more fun” (SBD, 3/7/00).
What if Barkley had ended up at NBC instead of Turner? For one, Inside the NBA never becomes what it is today. Much of the show’s success can be attributed to the chemistry between Barkley, Smith and Johnson. Minus any one of the three, the show can still be entertaining — but not nearly to the same extent.
Barkley would no doubt have been the lead studio analyst on NBC (or perhaps even the net’s top game analyst). But he would have been somewhat restrained. Some of the more memorable antics on Turner — getting weighed on a scale, losing a push-up contest, or kissing a donkey’s behind — were not going to happen on NBC’s more reserved studio show. And some of Barkley’s more colorful quips (ex., an analogy involving a ‘pin and a jackhammer’) may not have been 100% appropriate for broadcast television.
NBC lost the NBA in ’02, which would have made Barkley a coveted free agent. The logical jump would have been from NBC to ABC/ESPN, where his presence would have offered stability to the network’s constantly changing pregame show. The prospect of Barkley on the ESPN family of networks would be a story in and of itself. Of course, it’s entirely possible that after two years on NBC, Barkley would have joined Turner anyway.
#4: Bob Costas to ESPN/ABC (2002)
In 2002, ESPN/ABC began ?putting out feelers? to Bob Costas, who was in the final year of his contract with NBC. At the time, NBC had just lost the NBA, leaving it without the rights to any of the four major sports.
The perks of a possible deal? The ability to work on a wealth of ESPN/ABC sports programming, ranging from Major League Baseball to Monday Night Football, roles on Good Morning America and 20/20, the ?opportunity to develop other programming and specials,? and a possible increase in pay. As one ABC executive put it, ?The way things are, we have so much more to offer him than NBC does. If he leaves [NBC], the only thing he has to give up is the Olympics. That alone won’t be enough to keep him” (SBD, 2/22/02). And that may not have even been an issue; the New York Times reported that ABC ?would let [him] continue to do the Olympics for NBC? (SBD, 3/5/02).
Had Costas gone to ESPN/ABC, it?s hard to imagine him not being involved with ESPN’s baseball coverage. Additionally, Costas would more-than-likely have had a role on ESPN/ABC?s NBA coverage, either as studio host, or even as the lead play-by-play voice. And one imagines that some role would have been carved out for him on ABC?s Monday Night Football.
As for NBC, Costas? departure would have left a major vacancy. Costas may have still worked the Olympics, as the New York Times report indicated (NBC frequently uses talent from other networks for Olympic coverage). However, once NBC began reacquiring major sporting events (i.e., the NFL), Costas? absence would be felt more acutely.
#3: NHL remains with ESPN (2005)
In 2004, the NHL signed television deals with NBC and ESPN. The ESPN deal was for the 2004-05 season, with options for the next two seasons. Under the deal, ESPN2 would air 40 regular season games on Sundays and Wednesdays, while ESPN would air the NHL All-Star Game and Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Of course, the 2004-05 season never happened, thanks to a season-long lockout. ESPN declined to pick up its option for the 2005-06 season, and the NHL eventually moved to Comcast?s OLN (later Versus). The decision to leave ESPN, and the debate over whether the league should return to the network, has been a major topic of conversation among NHL fans during the latter half of the decade.
Had the NHL remained with ESPN, the league would have retained some credibility. To some, Versus was ? and still is ? a second-class network for second-class sports. Staying with ESPN would have aided the NHL, even if slightly, in combating the perception that it is not a major sport.
The league would never have had to deal with the problem of fans being unable to find the games, eliminating a common complaint (and a common talking point in negative articles about the league). And the league would have benefited from ESPN?s promotional prowess. Certainly, in lean years like 2006 and 2007, said promotional prowess may not have amounted to much, as there wasn?t that much to promote. But today, when the league has attractions such as the Winter Classic, stars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin on contending teams, and the Red Wings/Penguins rivalry, it?s hard to imagine an NHL-aligned ESPN not promoting the league.
Meanwhile, Versus would likely have remained as OLN, continuing its focus on outdoor sports ? though the network may not have abandoned its plans to expand its portfolio.
#2: Versus gets the NFL and/or Major League Baseball (2005, 2006)
Shortly after acquiring the rights to the NHL, Versus (then OLN) turned its attention to two of the titans of sports ? Major League Baseball and the NFL.
In August ?05, OLN went after the Sunday and Wednesday night package of MLB telecasts (including the Home Run Derby), but was beaten by incumbent ESPN. Then, the net turned its attention to the NFL?s Thursday-Saturday package of regular season games, but was beaten by NFL Network. And finally, the network went after one of MLB?s League Championship Series, but was beaten by TBS.
If Versus had acquired the rights to one ? just one ? of those three packages, it would have gone a long way to making the network more than just a dumping ground for sports ESPN did not want.
Versus would have become an instant competitor to ESPN ? especially had it acquired the rights to the aforementioned Sunday/Wednesday MLB package, a staple of ESPN programming. It’s likely that the network would have had a marked increase in distribution (though, as NFL Network?s difficulties have shown, there could be no guarantees). The addition of the NFL or MLB ? or both ? would have also helped Versus attract marquee talent, the way MLB Network acquired Bob Costas or NFL Network snagged Bryant Gumbel (performance aside, he was a big name).
Moreover, acquiring the rights to the NFL and MLB could have helped Versus add other sports down the line — perhaps the NBA in ?07, or the BCS in ?08. Granted, that may seem unlikely, but a legitimized Versus would have at least been in the conversation.
#1: NBA re-signs with NBC (2002)
In 2002, the NBA signed a six-year deal with ESPN/ABC and Turner, spurning previous rights-holder NBC. The deal changed the face of sports television, virtually eliminating the NBA?s broadcast presence. Since that deal, Monday Night Football, the Bowl Championship Series and one of the MLB League Championship Series have also moved to cable.
What would have happened had the NBA accepted NBC?s four-year deal, which would have lasted through the 2005-06 season?
NBC would have aired far more games than ABC, and ratings would have been substantially higher. However, compared to previous years on NBC, ratings would still have hit historic lows. Take the ?03 Spurs/Nets NBA Finals as an example. The 6.5 average rating for that series was a product of a variety of factors, not the least of which was confusion about where the games were airing, lack of promotion, and lack of a broadcast presence through the playoffs. Had NBC resigned with the NBA, continuing the status quo (i.e., double and tripleheaders throughout the postseason, promotion, consistency, etc.), there is little doubt that the ratings for that series would have been higher.
However, in all likelihood, the Spurs/Nets series would still have ended up averaging a single-digit rating (perhaps an 8.5 instead of a 6.5). Though the ratings would have been higher compared to what ABC drew under the current deal, they would have been disastrously low by NBC standards.
NBC would have also aired far more games than ABC, which typically airs less than 20 games during the regular season. That said, with ratings having dropped significantly during the previous deal, it would not have been surprising had NBC cut back on the number of games it aired ? eliminating some tripleheaders and avoiding 5:30 PM ET starts that bled into primetime.
In other words, ratings would still have dropped (though not as sharply) and there would still have been fewer games on broadcast. And it would have been entirely plausible that the NBA and NBC would have parted ways anyway at the end of the 2005-06 season.
What would the effect have been on other sports? For one, the NHL stays with ESPN. If the NHL had been the only professional winter sport on ESPN, the network would have been more reluctant to sever ties with the league.
Meanwhile, NBC may have been less willing to work out a deal with the NFL in 2005. After all, the network would have been shelling out ? and losing ? millions and millions of dollars on its NBA deal — and taking on another expensive sports television contract may not have seemed ideal.
Additionally, without the NBA setting the precedent, perhaps other sports would have been hesitant to move marquee programming to cable. In 2005, with the NBA’s marquee events still on broadcast, maybe the NFL hesitates to put its crown jewel, Monday Night Football, on cable television. If the NFL doesn?t put Monday Night Football on cable, perhaps Major League Baseball thinks twice about putting an LCS on TBS. And so on and so forth.
