News: NBA Finals host, NFL Primetime and more

New York, NY - October 25, 2019 - Seaport Studios: NBA Countdown set (Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Maria Taylor, Rachel Nichols and Doris Burke will each have different roles on this year’s NBA Finals than originally planned. Plus: no Tom Jackson on NFL Primetime this year and more.

Taylor to host NBA Finals, Nichols on sidelines, Burke on radio

ESPN officially announced Wednesday that the Maria Taylor-hosted NBA Countdown will precede ABC’s NBA Finals games, a shift from the original, pre-hiatus plan to have Rachel Nichols’ The Jump occupy the pregame slot. Taylor, who at 33 would be the youngest NBA Finals host on record, has previously hosted ESPN’s Women’s Final Four coverage.

As previously noted, NBA Countdown will remain in New York for the finals.

Instead of serving as pregame host, Nichols is scheduled to move into a sideline reporter role for the NBA Finals and Eastern Conference Finals, including hosting the series’ respective trophy presentations. Doris Burke, who usually handles those roles, is shifting to ESPN Radio as an analyst for both series.

Burke is filling a vacancy left by Hubie Brown, who did not travel to the NBA “bubble” in Florida. She would be the first woman to serve as an analyst on the conference finals or finals. [ESPN PR 9.9]

Tom Jackson skipping Primetime, with Booger McFarland as replacement

ESPN NFL analyst Tom Jackson, who came out of retirement last year to rejoin ESPN’s rebooted NFL Primetime alongside longtime partner Chris Berman, is skipping the coming season due to concern about COVID-19. He will be replaced by Booger McFarland.

Jackson missed time during last season due to an Achilles injury and was replaced by Ryan Clark. [ESPN PR 9.9]

Plus: CBS NFL plans, Are You Ready, Masters timeslots

CBS plans to have all of its NFL broadcasters work games on-site all season, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said during a conference call Tuesday. … ESPN will not precede its Monday Night Football broadcasts with the Hank Williams Jr. anthem “Are You Ready For Some Football” this season, according to Sports Business Daily. The network will reportedly go with a Little Richard song instead. … CBS’ McManus said Tuesday that the final round of November’s scheduled Masters tournament will conclude at around 2:30 PM ET to accommodate the network’s 4 PM ET NFL window. [CBS PR, Sports Business Daily 9.8]

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 2

Nate Johnson says:

6 years ago

I guess it would be a no surprise if the Inside crew doesn’t arrive at the Bubble. I’m not counting it out, but it seemed like the plan was to have a studio team present at the Bubble during the Conference and NBA Finals, but with nothing coming from ESPN end, I would not be surprised if TNT follows.

In my opinion, the MVPs of the broadcast team in the bubble has been Spero Dedes, Doris Burke, and Stan Van Gundy.

Dedes was expected to breakthrough in the late 2000s, but it’s been hard for him to overcome some big names on CBS and Turner. I believe he’s done a good job to say at least, but I believe it’s clear that he should consider going to FOX or ESPN in the future whenever he has that opportunity to consistently call games Nationally or more premium matchups in case he sticks to Regional NFL coverage.

Burke I believe is ready to be the #2 color analyst on ESPN/ABC. I’m not ready to give up on Hubie Brown, but in the broadcast industry changes has happened over and over again regardless of acceptance or an agreement from spectators. Burke also seems to be fitted for modern day broadcasting and help brings excitement and suspense to the broadcast. If Mark Jackson leaves for coaching, I don’t want her to join Breen and Jeff Van Gundy, because that could be a risk of her losing her status. Breen is no Pat Summerall where he would let a John Madden do more of the talking. Van Gundy is also a talkative analyst and Jackson really speaks on the opportune time. Make Burke follow Jackson, I don’t see how it would work regardless of an adjustment on her side or not. I rather she has her own play by play guy and no analyst even if it means that she won’t be on the #1 team if Mark Jackson goes back into coaching.

Stan Van Gundy has been terrific. I believe what is helping him out is that he coached basketball just a season ago. His analysis express what coaches thing of current players and how he evaluate coaches of the team he broadcasting, and also the identification of the team he broadcasting. Typically you don’t receive that from analysts that hasn’t coached or played in a long time. I also like how he isn’t afraid to criticize the officials and some of the bone head plays or calls by players specifically and coaches. He also does that at a higher rate than any other basketball color analyst. I’m glad he went to Turner and they found him a spot where he could be comparable to his brother.

I can’t express how happy I am for Booger McFarland. At this point I hope he messes around and get an Emmy. In all seriousness, it was disappointing how things ended for him and Tess on MNF. At least ESPN is giving him his College Football studio seat back and is putting him on Monday Night Countdown, and now he’s added to NFL Primetime. McFarland was terrific in the studio and I knew he would be good going all the way back to when he was on the SEC Network at its birth. I’m sure the haters going to continue to hate on him and certain media sites and social media critics will be on top of his mishaps and questionable analysis, but I can only hope that will be far and few and I trust in McFarland that will be the case.
- Ed says:
  
  6 years ago
  
  I never thought Turner would travel to West Finals as they would have had to leave Atlanta probably tonight to quarantine in Orlando. Ernie Johnson would have passed on trip to Orlando as he did not go to Florida earlier in year for The Golf Event citing his son health.