With the NBA back on NBC in two weeks (Oct. 21, with games on linear and Peacock), get ready for \u201cRoundball Rock\u201d to be stuck in your head for a while. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been licensed to me to use on my phone yet, but maybe over time,\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joked when asked whether the John Tesh-created theme has already become his wake-up song.<\/p>\n
But from the moment people arrived at NBC\u2019s NBA media day on Monday in Stamford, Conn., \u201cRoundball Rock\u201d was essentially on loop. As Sam Flood, NBC Sports\u2019 executive producer and president of production, said onstage, it\u2019s all part of \u201ctouches\u201d of nostalgia viewers can expect when the company returns with NBA games after ending its run back in 2002. As NBCUniversal TV and Streaming CMO Jenny Storms noted, 60% of NBA fans are nostalgic for the NBA on NBC.<\/p>\n
Freshening things up<\/p>\n
The NBC audience will certainly recognize names such as Reggie Miller, Grant Hill and Mike Tirico calling games, but it\u2019s not all about nods to the \u201990s and the Michael Jordan glory years (even though His Airness will be part of NBC\u2019s coverage in a role that is still TBD<\/a>, and Miller made references to Jordan wanting to be back on the network that aired so many of his big games as a player).<\/p>\n It\u2019s been over two decades, and this will essentially be a fresh beginning within the walls of NBC. \u201cIt\u2019s not often you can take on a big sport and start from scratch,\u201d said NBC Sports President Rick Cordella. <\/p>\n With NBCU bringing back the NBC Sports Network cable channel on YouTube TV soon, Cordella also noted the company is still figuring out plans for how many games to put on Peacock. <\/p>\n Making things seem fresh also means a heavy investment in graphics, something Frank DiGraci, NBC Sports\u2019 coordinating producer, said the company has spent nearly a year on. Flood, who was with NBC when the NBA was last with the company, said the new studio for coverage makes now and then seem like a comparison between a modern spaceship and Apollo 1.<\/p>\n Wise guys<\/p>\n The new era of the NBA on NBC was certainly reflected on the studio side with three Basketball Hall of Famers in Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony, who look like they are going to be a fun watch this season alongside host Maria Taylor. Melo admitted that he\u2019s \u201clearning on the fly\u201d on how to be a studio analyst (Carter and T-Mac have had various roles with ESPN and TNT Sports over the years). The goal in Season 1, as T-Mac put it, is to have the audience wanting more in Season 2. \u201cI want them to be inspired by the information they\u2019re getting from us,\u201d he told SBJ (T-Mac was also not afraid to grab the mic during media sessions and ask some good-humored questions of Miller). Melo added that the crew is not trying to be like others, but rather, carve their own path. <\/p>\n The comfort level seen among Melo, T-Mac, Vince and Maria is definitely something to pay attention to, and that studio could grow into something special if the group sticks together.<\/p>\n Mic check<\/p>\n NBC also touts a great mix of well-known voices and up-and-coming talent calling games, and that includes Noah Eagle. \u201cThey haven\u2019t shaved my head yet, so until I get the Tim Tebow-rookie-year haircut, I\u2019m doing OK,\u201d he jokingly said about his peers. <\/p>\n For Tirico, one reason for his enthusiasm around the return of the NBA gets back to storytelling, which was one of the key factors he came to NBC Sports in the first place, something he feels is in the DNA of the company. \u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary entertainment vehicle for fans,\u201d Tirico said of the NBA. \u201cThe NBA is kind of wherever [fans] are and is so consumable for the younger generation — maybe as much as any other sport — whether it\u2019s the athletes and the way they crossover in fashion and music and pop culture. … From an entertainment standpoint, it gives you everything you want.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s also going to be a busy winter for Tirico, and his travel plans around the Super Bowl, Milan-Cortina Olympics and NBA All-Star Game are still in flux. He will be on-site to call the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, meaning he won\u2019t be in Italy for the Opening Ceremony, but will play a part in the Winter Games. \u201cWe\u2019ll sleep in March,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n Odds & ends<\/p>\n Lenny Kravitz will be to \u201cSunday Night Basketball\u201d what Carrie Underwood has been to \u201cSunday Night Football.\u201d The longtime rocker has already recorded the theme song for NBC\u2019s Sunday night programming, which rolls out Feb. 1. NBC and Peacock are exceeding advertiser expectations for their upcoming NBA coverage, with almost all of the ad inventory for the season sold out<\/a>. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 170 sponsors for NBA coverage, with 20% of those being new to NBCU.One creative way NBCU has promoted the league recently: an integration within \u201cLove Island Games.\u201d One of the game nights for the reality show was branded the \u201cNBA on NBC and Peacock.\u201dThe \u201cBasketball Night in America\u201d studio show will be on-site for games this season.Expect some NBA-themed activations at 30 Rock in Manhattan soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the NBA back on NBC in two weeks (Oct. 21, with games on linear and Peacock), get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,66632,82],"class_list":["post-194241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-nbc-sports-group","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}