This NBA season, there have been plenty of subplots that distract from the fact that basketball is the most beautiful of the major sports.
Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups were arrested for rigging NBA games and poker events. Paul George tested positive for PEDs. Luka Doncic seems to be engaged in a very public custody battle. On top of that, somehow Bam Adebayo’s historic 83-point game has been turned into a “he should have stopped for Kobe” argument.
As if Kobe would have stopped for anyone.
Between social media, Adam Silver’s incessant comments that fans can skip games and instead just skim highlights on YouTube, and ESPN’s continued assault on the product they push, it’s easy to fall out of love with basketball.
The people behind the scenes propping the game up deserve some credit, and the in-stadium people at some arenas do an excellent job of making the games feel like a production. Remember when it felt like every game mattered? In some arenas, they still do.
How Broadcasts Can Make Games Feel Special
“How a game feels” is ultimately subjective. I want to shout out the Charlotte Hornets’ home broadcaster, Eric Collins. Take a listen to a compilation of his calls. Juvenile? Perhaps, but you can tell no one cares more about the team than he does, and the energy is infectious.
Collins is regarded as one of the best local play-by-play men in the league, but listen again without the sound on. Sure, the highlights are impressive, but does it feel like a production? Is the pageantry of the NBA alive?
No, of course not. Part of that is due to the limited resources of a local broadcast. That can’t be helped. But a bigger factor is the stadium lighting.
Take a look at the four different arenas below.
Which ones look the most cinematic? Like something you should care about? I’d say the top right is the best, followed by top left, then bottom right, then bottom left.
The thing is, that’s nearly the total opposite in terms of importance of the actual game. On the bottom, we have the Spurs vs. Thunder and Celtics vs. Knicks. Both are marquee games that have real playoff implications. On top are Bulls vs. Lakers and Pistons vs. Nets.
So what makes the top two look a lot better? Crowd lighting. Sure, seeing a crowd wearing all matching colors standing for 48 minutes is awesome, but you aren’t going to get that in the regular season. By dimming the crowd, the broadcast is offering fans a whole game’s worth of that moment right when the movie theater dims the lights. Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to start.
The Celtics vs. Knicks example is particularly egregious. That was a prime-time game broadcast on Amazon’s streaming service, which features analysts and play-by-play folks whom I really enjoy. However, by having a lit crowd both on top and bottom, the on-court play is minimized.
Are these trivial complaints? Probably. Should a multi-billion-dollar league like the NBA, broadcast on a multi-billion-dollar company like Amazon, get it right? Yep.
I spent the better part of four seasons working for companies that prioritized clicks more than anything else, and saying things like “this game doesn’t matter” or “this player is a fraud” certainly drove traffic, but articles like those are the reason fans feel jaded. Talking heads on hotel lounge TVs don’t help, either (I’m looking at you, Stephen A!)
While it’s hard to get excited for all 82 regular-season games, I will admit that NBC and Amazon are doing a better job of getting fans excited than TNT ever did. Those broadcasts felt like a studio show with a game sandwiched in between. Mike Tirico simply likes basketball more than Shaquille O’Neal and Skip Bayless do at this point.
As media companies start to lean into celebrating basketball, the Eric Collinses of the world and the lighting engineers deserve a lot of credit. Good on them.
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