When the Cubs launched Marquee Sports Network five years ago, I pushed for them to air a package of games on WGN. It would’ve been a wonderful gesture, an acknowledgment that without WGN there is no Marquee. And for viewers of a certain age — such as myself — it would’ve kept a link to a bygone era of television.
Sadly, it never happened. But another network is scratching that nostalgic itch. When NBC begins an 11-year rights deal with the NBA this fall, it will send viewers on a time warp to the 1990s, when the network also owned the rights and Michael Jordan’s Bulls owned the league.
During its broadcast last Saturday of the Kentucky Derby, NBC aired a promo with its biggest stars to announce that ‘‘Roundball Rock’’ will return as the theme song for its NBA coverage. Viewers even saw a white-haired John Tesh, the composer of the song, playing it.
NBC then went a step further, announcing Monday that it will use an AI-generated voice of former narrator Jim Fagan in its coverage. You know, the guy who said, ‘‘This is the NBA on NBC’’ during ‘‘Roundball Rock.’’ The network received permission from his family to use his re-created voice for elements such as promos and title sequences. Fagan died in 2017.
We won’t get to hear Marv Albert, Dick Enberg, ‘‘czar of the telestrator’’ Mike Fratello, Matt Guokas, Steve ‘‘Snapper’’ Jones and many others call the action. It’s doubtful Bob Costas will return to host ‘‘NBA Showtime,’’ and don’t expect Ahmad Rashad and Willow Bay to appear on ‘‘NBA Inside Stuff.’’ Nostalgia has its limits.
But NBC is trying to give viewers all the feels to entice them to tune in. It wants to bring back the big-game aura its broadcasts had in the ’90s, when they began with dramatic, scripted opens and included player introductions, which national networks don’t air anymore.
‘‘We’re going to bring a lot of that back, show the atmosphere of the arena,’’ NBC Sports president Rick Cordella told CNBC Sport last week. ‘‘Here’s another example: Michael Jordan’s player introductions. Very, very small amount of people were actually in Chicago Stadium hearing ‘Sirius’ by the Alan Parsons Project and ‘6-6 from North Carolina,’ etc. The reason why people know it so well [is] because NBC showed it.’’
Here’s the challenge NBC faces: Back then, its weekly regular-season schedule generally didn’t begin until after Christmas, and it benefitted from marquee matchups anchored by big-market teams. It eventually added to its schedule with regional broadcasts.
NBC’s new deal includes 100 nationally televised regular-season games, featuring the new ‘‘Sunday Night Basketball’’ franchise, which will begin after the NFL season, and regional doubleheaders on Tuesday nights. Streaming service Peacock will air about half of the 100 games exclusively on Monday nights, with doubleheaders late in the season.
That’s a lot of games to make feel big. Again, nostalgia has its limits.
And as nice a gesture as NBC is making for its older audience, it needs to attract a younger one, as well. It must get adolescents and young adults to watch the games, not just the highlights that are readily available on social media and the NBA’s own app.
That task will fall to Frank DiGraci, whom NBC named its coordinating producer for NBA coverage. He will oversee all game production. DiGraci has produced Nets games for 26 seasons, and he comes from a breeding ground of basketball broadcasting talent at YES Network.
As great as NBC’s production was back in the day, the games, players and rivalries were at the heart of it. The network will begin this rights deal at the end of the LeBron James-Stephen Curry era. It will be in the market for new superstars, who ultimately will drive its success.
Because nostalgia has its limits.
Remote patrol
A special week is on tap for Marlins radio voice Jack McMullen. The Oak Park-River Forest product is back home to call the Marlins’ series this weekend against the White Sox and next week against the Cubs.
McMullen, who’s the nephew of The Score’s Matt Spiegel, is in his first season on the job after three seasons calling the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis. The 27-year-old previously called lower-level teams in Auburn, New York, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• Adam Amin, A.J. Pierzynski and Ken Rosenthal will call the Cubs-Mets game at 6:15 p.m. Saturday on Fox 32. The game Sunday is the first this season of streaming service Roku’s ‘‘MLB Sunday Leadoff’’ package. It will air at 11:05 a.m. on the free Roku Channel. Viewers don’t need a Roku device to watch. Gary Cohen, Joe Girardi and Taylor McGregor will call it.
• ESPN will broadcast the NBA Draft Lottery from Chicago at 6 p.m. Monday. ‘‘SportsCenter’’ anchor Kevin Negandhi will host the show for the first time. He’ll be joined by other newcomers in insider Shams Charania and analysts Bob Myers and Jay Bilas. Kendrick Perkins returns. The Bulls have a 1.7% chance of winning the first pick.
