Sports TV News
Jeff Van Gundy: ‘NBA Games Should Be Shortened To 2 Hour TV Window’
“He suggests modifying rules, such as the length of halftime and instituting a statute of limitations on challenges, to ensure the game remains enthralling and entertaining for future generations.”
Published
2 years agoon
ESPN enters its 20th season of NBA coverage with cross-platform coverage leading up to a prime-time matchup from Madison Square Garden with Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics visiting Julius Randle and the New York Knicks. ESPN Play-by-Play Announcer and “voice of the NBA Finals” Mike Breen will be on the call, joined by sideline reporter Lisa Salters and analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. Jackson, who most recently served as head coach of the Golden State Warriors after a 17-year playing career, looked back on how far the broadcast has come since he first joined it in 2006.
“It [has] progressed with the variety of people [who] are covering the game,” said Jackson on a recent conference call. “Across the board, they’ve done an outstanding job of not making us all look and sound alike. I’m honored to be a part of that group.”
An issue prevalent in many sports, most notably Major League Baseball, pertains to pace-of-play. In an attempt to shorten “America’s Pastime” to attract and hold the attention of younger audiences, the introduction of new rules, such as limitations on mound visits, clocks to regulate time in-between innings, and restrictions on when the batter can step out of the box during an at-bat, have had the adverse effect. The average MLB contest lasts three hours and 11 minutes, the highest mark recorded since consistent measurement began in 1946.
While a regulation, four-quarter NBA game is significantly quicker than an MLB contest, Van Gundy, a former coach of 11 years, hopes the league can shorten the game even more to adapt to today’s viewing audience that holds an average attention span of just eight seconds, shorter than that of a goldfish. He suggests modifying rules, such as the length of halftime and instituting a statute of limitations on challenges, to ensure the game remains enthralling and entertaining for future generations.
“I’d love to see the game shortened into a two-hour window,” said Van Gundy. “I think we need to keep finding ways to reduce stoppages of play from timeouts. I would either shorten or greatly modify halftime. I think [the league has] to constantly look for ways to shorten the viewing window and have as much action in that two-hour timeframe as [it] can.”
With ESPN recently launching the “Manningcast,” an alternate, non-traditional broadcast of Monday Night Football featuring former NFL quarterbacks, Super Bowl champions and brothers Eli and Peyton Manning, the world of sports media has undoubtedly taken notice. The broadcast has a similar feel to friends hanging out and watching a football game, except these friends just so happen to have played and reached the pinnacle of professional football, offering unique perspectives and viewpoints shattering the fourth wall between the athletes and the fans. While the NBA on ESPN has yet to do a broadcast at that scale with regularity, it is something that the network analysts are taking notice of.
“When you’re dealing with one of the greatest to ever play the game in Peyton, and a hall-of-famer in Eli, both guys do an incredible job,” said Jackson. “I think it gives an opportunity for viewers who want to see that type of broadcast. I don’t even know how many channels [ESPN has, but] it’s always going to be something against what we are doing… I have no problem with it at all.”
If ESPN decided to produce a non-traditional, alternate broadcast, Van Gundy offered an idea to close out his broadcasting career where the fans would be given the unfiltered perspective of those who have been on the court.
“I want to do one game, NBA on ESPN: The Entire Truth,” opined Van Gundy. “[We would] be able to tell the entire truth — not 90% of it, not 80% of it, but the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I think that would be an outstanding, one-time broadcast as I sign off and finish my career.”
While Jackson and Van Gundy do not cover the NFL, they have not had their heads in the sand. They were asked about the emails from Jon Gruden leaked during an investigation into the culture of the Washington Football Team. Both hold concerns regarding similar issues that may have already occurred or could occur in the future within the NBA, a league that protested racial injustice last summer when playoff games were postponed and nearly cancelled following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
“It’s unfortunate, and I totally agree with the price that Jon Gruden had to pay for the things that he stated,” said Jackson. “My concern is I truly do not believe it is just a Jon Gruden story. There’s more to it, and there’s people being protected. We have to find a way to weave those people out… [and] hopefully we can get better across the board.”
Van Gundy holds an analogous sentiment with Jackson, and has lost trust in the NFL’s stand against injustice and willingness to do whatever it takes to directly avoid bad publicity
“The NFL has always found ways to protect itself from these things, and to deflect their responsibility,” affirmed Van Gundy. “They’ll give you a lot of clichés about transparency; yet, they are always covering and protecting their own. My level of trust for their investigations is nil.”
Aside from the trio of Breen, Jackson and Van Gundy, ESPN’s lineup of on-air personalities and commentators, the latter of whom all plan to appear on-site this season, includes analysts Doris Burke, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter and play-by-play voices Ryan Ruocco, Mark Jones, Dave Pasch, Brian Custer and Beth Mowins. Additionally, sideline reporters for this season of the N.B.A. on ESPN include Malika Andrews, Katie George, Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, Cassidy Hubbarth, Lisa Salters and Jorge Sedano. One name, though, that has been within the N.B.A. landscape longer than any of ESPN’s rotation of broadcasters is Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer Hubie Brown, who starts his 50th season in the league between coaching and broadcasting.
Jeff Van Gundy, who ESPN recently inked to a multi-year contract extension, does not think his career will have the longevity of Brown’s, but is grateful for the time he has spent with the network thus far, and looks forward to the future of what he calls his “second career.”
“There has to be an award named for [Hubie Brown] somewhere. He’s 88 — that would take me to 2050. I can’t even imagine that,” said Van Gundy. “The upper management of ESPN has changed a lot, but my direct boss in Tim Corrigan has never changed. Broadcasting is good, but broadcasting with friends is great… I’ve enjoyed it particularly because of who I work for and who I work with. I can’t state how lucky I’ve been along the way to have coached as long as I did and to stumble into a second career.”
ESPN’s 20th season of NBA coverage kicks off Wednesday night with the prime-time matchup between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
Sports TV News
Pat McAfee to Caitlin Clark: “Can’t Wait to See Where Women’s Basketball Goes”
“I feel like I always had super big goals and dreams and aspirations, but at the same time, this is a place that women’s basketball has really never been before, so no, I never really imagined it on this magnitude.”
Published
2 hours agoon
April 17, 2024By
BSM StaffThe 2024 WNBA Draft on ESPN attained record levels of viewership, amassing an average audience of 2.45 million viewers for this edition of the event. Iowa guard Caitlin Clark was selected No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever, a selection that will see her team with last year’s first-overall pick Aliyah Boston to try and lead the organization to a league championship. Following an opening press conference from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. on Wednesday morning, Clark made an in-studio appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN where they discussed her time on the Iowa Hawkeyes and her transition from the NCAA to the WNBA.
Clark, the all-time scoring leader for NCAA Division I Basketball, led Iowa to a second-consecutive National Championship Game. Viewership for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament broke several records, including averaging 18.1 million viewers during the championship game between Iowa and South Carolina. Clark responded to a question about whether the outcome playing out was how she envisioned her college career and transition to the WNBA concluding.
“I feel like I always had super big goals and dreams and aspirations, but at the same time, this is a place that women’s basketball has really never been before, so no, I never really imagined it on this magnitude,” Clark said. “But also I’ve always been a supporter of women’s basketball; it’s always been something I’ve loved ever since a young age.”
Clark explained that she was hoping the Indiana Fever would win the WNBA Draft Lottery to gain the first overall selection in the WNBA Draft. She is excited to remain in the midwest and learn from her teammates, coaches and alumni, including Hall of Fame forward and former league MVP Tamika Catchings. Through it all, she will try to remain grounded and focus on making meaningful contributions to the Fever and league as a whole.
“I think where the magnitude of everything’s gone, I feel like I’ve tried to stay right in the middle,” Clark said. “One of the best pieces of advice that somebody gave me is like, ‘At the level you feel all the praise, that’s the same level you’ll feel all the hate,’ so I try to stay right in the middle. It doesn’t really bother me – I think it’s just what comes with it, and growing up, my mom always said, ‘People want to see you fail.’ That’s just kind of how our world is, which is really sad, but at the same time, I don’t think about that type of stuff.”
Show host Pat McAfee expressed that women’s college basketball has been phenomenal to watch over the last several years with the talent and storylines therein. In discussing the growth of the game, he wanted to know whether Clark perceived there to be an onus on her to bring women’s basketball to another level. Viewership of the WNBA last season reached over 36 million viewers across all national networks and was up 21% year-over-year. Moreover, the WNBA Finals on ESPN between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty averaged 728,000 viewers, marking the most-watched edition of the league championship in 20 years.
“I don’t feel like any pressure to take it to a place it’s never been before,” Clark responded. “I think that’s just going to happen with the way we’re on TV more; with the way people are following from the college game to the WNBA.”
At the conclusion of the interview, McAfee hit a long-distance shot from the stage of his set to give away four season tickets to the Indiana Fever. The team plays its first game on Tuesday, May 14 against the Connecticut Sun, which will be televised on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. EST. Thirty-six of the 40 Indiana Fever games will be broadcast by a national television platform, including eight on linear channels owned by The Walt Disney Company (ESPN, ABC, ESPN2).
“Caitlin, I just want to let you know we’ve all been incredibly lucky to kind of watch this all take place,” McAfee said. “Can’t wait to see what you do at the W, can’t wait to see where women’s basketball goes, and thank you for getting somebody like me into the sport because it is an awesome, awesome sport, and the future is only bright, especially in this city.”
Sports TV News
NFL Media Announces 2024 NFL Draft Coverage
NFL Network will be on-site from the NFL Draft for the 18th year.
Published
5 hours agoon
April 17, 2024By
BSM StaffThe NFL Media portfolio of properties – including NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL+, the NFL App, NFL RedZone and the NFL Channel – will be covering the 2024 NFL Draft with over 60 hours of live coverage during draft week beginning on Sunday, April 21. NFL Network will be on-site from the NFL Draft for the 18th year, beginning its coverage on Sunday with NFL Mock Draft Live at 8 p.m. EST. A full first-round mock draft will commence on the show with on-air personalities Colleen Wolfe, Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks and Rhett Lewis. Additional NFL Network talent will join the program to complete the mock draft exercise. Jeremiah will reveal his final mock draft on Wednesday, April 24 at 8 p.m. EST alongside Charles Davis and Colleen Wolfe.
The next day, NFL Network will begin airing Path to the Draft at 6 p.m., which will be hosted by Rhett Lewis and Patrick Claybon and air through Wednesday. The show will include the latest news and analysis pertaining to the draft with analysts Bucky Brooks, Lance Zierlein, Scott Pioli, Brian Baldinger and Marc Ross. NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero and analytics expert Cynthia Frelund are also slated to be part of the show to contribute to the overall coverage. Nightly editions of NFL Total Access will follow at 7 p.m. EST and air through Wednesday as well at the same time. From Thursday to Sunday, the show will air following coverage of the NFL Draft and conclude with a special recapping the draft on Sunday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. EST.
NFL Network will also air a one-hour edition of The Insiders on Tuesday, April 23 at 1 p.m. EST featuring Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo, Tom Pelissero and Judy Battista. Various NFL Network reporters will also join the program to take part in the discussion. Several NFL Network reporters will be situated surrounding several teams with top selections this year leading up to the NFL Draft as well, including Judy Battista (New York Giants), Sherree Burruss (Washington Commanders) and Stacey Dales (Chicago Bears). Additionally, NFL 360: Draft Special will premiere on NFL Network later that day at 8:30 p.m. EST, which will shed light on stories surrounding several potential draftees, some of whom include former UCLA defensive lineman Laiatu Latu and former Penn State defensive end Adisa Isaac.
NFL Network begins live coverage of the 2024 NFL Draft ahead of the first round on Thursday with Good Morning Football at 7 a.m. EST. The program, which recently aired its final episode from New York City ahead of its move to Los Angeles, will include several NFL Network personalities, including Jane Slater, Jason McCourty, Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt and Tom Pelissero.
Starting at 1 p.m. EST, NFL Draft Kickoff will take the air and feature discussion and insights about the forthcoming draft selections. Viewers will also be able to hear from the draftees live from the red carpet as they are interviewed by reporter Kaylee Hartung and former NFL quarterback Cam Newton. The show will be hosted by Mike Garafolo, Chris Rose and Colleen Wolfe and feature analysts Kurt Warner, Steve Smith Sr. and David Carr.
Once the first round of the NFL Draft begins at 8 p.m. EST, live breakdowns and analysis will follow each pick from exterior and interior sets. Situated at the exterior set will be host Rich Eisen, who is the longest-tenured current draft host, along with analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Additionally, CBS Sports broadcaster Charles Davis and FOX Sports broadcaster Joel Klatt will be part of the coverage to provide their opinions on the selections. The interior set will include NFL Network analyst and former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, along with NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport. Kaylee Hartung will interview the draftees on stage after they are selected on Thursday.
The NFL Channel will also air coverage of the Draft at 8 p.m. EST with NFL Draft Center featuring Rhett Lewis, Bucky Brooks and Lance Zierlein. Cynthia Frelund and MIke Yam will join Brooks and Zierlein for this coverage on Saturday at 12 p.m. EST. Consumers can watch the NFL Channel utilizing the NFL App and other OTT streaming platforms and FAST services such as Peacock, Pluto TV and Tubi. SiriusXM NFL Radio and ESPN Radio will have live NFL Draft coverage through all seven rounds, and Westwood One will be on the air for the first round on Thursday as well.
Eisen’s annual 40-yard dash, titled “Run Rich Run,” will occur on Saturday, April 27 during NFL Network coverage of Rounds 4-7 of the NFL Draft. The 20th edition of the run, which raises awareness and support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will include patient ambassadors at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Former Los Angeles Rams Andrew Whitworth and Todd Gurley are also scheduled to join Eisen for the annual tradition as well.
Sports TV News
Noah Eagle Named USA Olympic Basketball Play-by-Play Voice for NBC
“I’m honored to be a part of the coverage for Team USA’s pursuit of gold on the hardwood. Both the men’s and women’s sides are loaded with star power and some of the most elite coaches the sport has ever seen.”
Published
5 hours agoon
April 17, 2024By
BSM StaffNBC Sports today announced that Noah Eagle will serve as the play-by-play voice for Team USA men’s and women’s basketball games and medal round competition at the Paris Olympics. NBC Sports’ analysts and reporters for these games will be announced in the coming weeks.
Team USA games, and the medal rounds, will be presented across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network, with specific platforms to be announced at a later date.
“Noah has excelled on many high-profile events, including as our lead Big Ten voice, and NBA and college basketball games. We are excited to hear him call Team USA’s quest for gold in both the men’s and women’s tournaments this summer,” said Rebecca Chatman Vice President and Coordinating Producer, NBC Olympics Production in a release.
“I’m honored to be a part of the coverage for Team USA’s pursuit of gold on the hardwood. Both the men’s and women’s sides are loaded with star power and some of the most elite coaches the sport has ever seen,” Eagle said. “With the incredible NBC Olympic team alongside, I can’t wait for that first game to tip off.”
Team USA basketball will be Eagle’s second NBC Olympics assignment, as he called 3×3 Basketball three years ago for the Tokyo Olympics.
TEAM USA BASKETBALL OLYMPIC PRELIMINARY ROUND SCHEDULE
Date | Coverage | Time (ET) |
Sun., July 28 | Men: United States vs. Serbia | 11:15 a.m. |
Mon., July 29 | Women: United States vs. Japan | 3 p.m. |
Wed., July 31 | Men: United States vs. South Sudan | 3 p.m. |
Thurs., August 1 | Women: United States vs. Belgium | 3 p.m. |
Sat., August 3 | Men: United States vs. Winner of Olympic Qualifying Tournament | 11:15 a.m. |
Sun., August 4 | Women: United States vs. Germany | 11:15 a.m. |