By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
Expect more of NBC’s “On The Bench” innovation for NBA games going forward.
Reflecting on the network’s first season back in the NBA business, NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood touted many highlights Wednesday — including bringing the voices of Michael Jordan,Snoop Dogg,Caitlin Clark and Lenny Kravitz to some broadcasts, plus finding ways to combine the past and the present.
But the big win, in Flood’s eyes, might have been how putting analysts on team benches worked out so well — probably better than many imagined.
“We’d love to do more ‘On The Bench’ games. We think that is something that has redefined to a degree how you can consume a basketball game in the NBA,” Flood said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So, we want to lean into that a little bit more. We can see adding a few more games of it.”
NBC’s original plan for “On The Bench” — which is just what it sounds like, having an analyst on (or basically one seat from) each team’s bench for the entire game — was to offer it as part of its Monday night package. A Sunday night game was added, and Flood said teams have cooperated with the format.
It’s not a completely new concept; there have been sideline reporters in various sports including the NBA for years, and NBC has had reporters between the benches at NHL games in the past as well. But in the NBA space, presenting “courtside” reporting in that manner was basically unheard of until this season.
“The game that Mike Tirico did in Miami, his one play-by-play for an ‘On The Bench’ game, he loved it. He just had so much fun doing a different kind of telecast,” Flood said. “And again, we found the teams have leaned in and loved it. One of the unwritten benefits for the teams is we don’t ask to speak for those in-game interviews to the head coach. We say: ‘Who’s your guy? Who’s your assistant that you want to put out there to get an opportunity to get this sort of exposure?'”
Prime Video has the rights to the play-in tournament that takes place next week. When the playoffs start April 18, games are on Prime, NBC/Peacock and ABC/ESPN. The NBA Finals are exclusive to ABC/ESPN.
This season — the first of the league’s 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal — saw NBC return to the NBA broadcast space and Prime Video become part of it for the first time. NBC and Peacock aired the new U.S. vs. The World All-Star tournament in February, capitalizing on the buzz generated by the Milan Cortina Olympics, and drew All-Star’s biggest viewership audience since 2011.
Jordan was interviewed by Tirico for a series that NBC called “Insights to Excellence,” and John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” anthem for NBA on NBC telecasts returned to rave reviews as well.
“Our goal was to under-promise and over-deliver,” Flood said. “My feeling is, and the feedback that we’ve gotten is that we delivered what we promised and perhaps exceeded that.”
