the nba on network television: a historical...

THE NBA ON NETWORK TELEVISION: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

By

MARIO R. SARMENTO

A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITYOF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

1998

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wished to express his gratitude to his advisors, Dr. Bernell E.

Tripp, Dr. David H. Ostroff, and Dr. Jon Roosenraad; Dr. Tripp for her diligence in

reading the thesis and commenting on corrections that needed to be made, Dr. Ostroff

for his advice and suggestions on how to research and approach the topic, and Dr.

Roosenraad for his assistance.

The author would also like to thank his parents for making this study possible.

Thanks also go to the National Basketball Association for providing the videotapes

used in the analysis section as well as providing the league's contract information.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

CHAPTERS

1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Review of Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Implications of Study . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2. 1940s-50s: FROM NBA BEGINNINGS TO TELEVISION BEGINNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The NBA is Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The DuMont Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Sports on Television . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17The Shot Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Television Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3. THE 1960s: A TURBULENT DECADE FOR THE NBA . ... 29

Sports on Television . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29NBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31The ABL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32NBA Changes Networks . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34The ABA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36The Knicks Become Winners . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4. THE 1970s: A DECADE OF UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 43The Sport of the ‘70s . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Criticisms of Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 46CBS Struggles to Improve Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Ratings Decline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 49

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NBA Image Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52ABA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

5. THE 1980s: A DECADE OF PROSPERITY . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Bird and Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62The NBA Makes Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 63The Resurgence of the NBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 65David Stern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67The Superstars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

6. THE 1990s: ON THE COATTAILS OF MICHAEL JORDAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Jordan Reaches the Pinnacle . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Jordan Retires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77New Stars Fill the Void . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Jordan Returns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80The NBA Again Faces Life After Jordan . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . 83Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7. KEY GAMES IN TELEVISION HISTORY . . . . . .. . . . . . . 88

Game 1 1954 Eastern Division Playoffs: Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Game 1 1956 NBA Finals: Philadelphia Warriors vs. Fort Wayne Pistons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Game 7 1970 NBA Finals: New York Knicks vs. LosAngeles Lakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Game 7 1984 NBA Finals: Boston Celtics vs. LosAngeles Lakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Game 1 1991 NBA Finals: Chicago Bulls vs. Los Angeles Lakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

8. HOW TELEVISION CHANGED SPORTS . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .97Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

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9. ANALYSIS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN 1980s NBA GAMES AND 1990s NBA GAMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

1970s Telecasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104Pregame Coverage in the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Teases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Introduction of Announcers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Team Lineups/Injury Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081990s Pregame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 109Teases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Injury Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111980s Game Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 113Themes of the Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . 118Replays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 123Halftime Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 124Postgame Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

10. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

APPENDIX A: NBA FRANCHISES BY DECADE SINCE 1946 . . . . . . . . 140

APPENDIX B: NBA TELEVISION CONTRACTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

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Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida inPartial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Mass

Communication

THE NBA ON NETWORK TELEVISION: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

By

Mario R. Sarmento

December 1998

Chairman: Dr. Bernell E. TrippMajor Department: Journalism and Communications

This thesis is a documentation of the history of the National Basketball

Association (NBA) on national television from the early 1950s until 1998.

Specifically, this thesis examines the implementation of television coverage of the NBA

and how coverage changed the sport. Newspaper and magazine articles from previous

decades were selected to document the league's history on television as well as rule

changes and historical developments in the NBA as well. Key games in the history of

network coverage of the NBA are cited, and they were selected based on their

historical significance to the NBA on television. Also, an analysis of games from the

1980s and 1990s was conducted to determine how television coverage has changed

since the early days of the medium.

Specifically, this was done through the use of newspaper and magazine articles

that offered criticism of the commentators who covered the game. The games

themselves were broken down into four segments: pregame, halftime, postgame, and

game coverage. The pregame show was further segmented into four areas: the

opening portion of the telecast, which in broadcasting terminology is known as a tease,

introduction of announcers, and team lineups/injury reports. The content of the

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pregame shows was also analyzed. It was determined that pregame coverage has

grown more sophisticated since the 1980s, with more elaborate teases and more

sophisticated analysis of injuries than before.

Game coverage was also broken down into four subjects: commentary during

the games, themes of the games as described by the announcers during the games, the

use of replays, and the use of graphics. Commentary in 1990s games was found to be

more detailed and insightful than coverage during the 1980s, and there were more

replays and camera angles used in 1990s coverage as opposed to 1980s coverage.

More sophisticated and detailed graphics were used in the 1990s, specifically the use

of shot charts to monitor the players' performances and the use of shooting percentage

and turnover and rebounding statistics.

There was one consistent element to coverage from the '80s to the '90s, and

that was the announcers' use of game themes to describe to viewers how one team had

defeated another. The game themes have also become more elaborate over the years;

where once announcers in the '80s highlighted two or three key themes that led a team

to victory, coverage in the '90s indicated that there were several themes announcers

used to present the storylines of the games. Finally, halftime and postgame shows

were examined for their content and it was found that coverage in the 1990s provided

more analysis and elaboration on key plays in the games than in the 1980s.

Finally, this study examined how television coverage changed both the NBA,

and mass media coverage of the game. It was determined that NBA officials made

several rule changes over the years in an effort to appeal to television viewers.

Journalists were also forced to write about other aspects of the games since viewers

could see the results on television. This led to more in-depth analysis of games.

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CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown up over the last 20

years. Once on the verge of collapse, and unwanted by television, the NBA has

rebounded to become arguably the most popular league in the nation. Among young

people, the NBA has in fact surpassed the National Football League (NFL) as the

number one sport.1 If this statement would have been made 10 years ago, it would

have been dismissed as ridiculous. It was through television that the league finally

established itself as a worthy counterpart to Major League Baseball and the NFL.

The league got its first television exposure during the 1953-54 season on the

long-since folded DuMont network. At that time, baseball was still the national

pastime, and pro football was beginning to emerge as a popular sport in its own right.2

Even college basketball was considered a more attractive television commodity than

the NBA.3 The NBA was considered to be a minor-league operation at the time, but

when the college point-shaving scandals of the early '50s rocked college basketball and

left the NBA relatively unscathed, the league began its emergence into the national

spotlight.4

However, the interest faded, and after DuMont folded in 1954, the league

began a partnership with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for the 1954-55

season. Yet, the promising partnership between NBC and the NBA was diminished by

the slow pace and fouling exhibitions NBA games had become in the 1950s. Without

a time constraint for a team to get a shot off, the NBA was always played at a slow

2

pace, with one team opening up a bit of a lead and then putting the ball into a deep

freeze until time ran out.5

The league was dying a slow death, and the snail's pace threatened to wipe out

professional basketball entirely. A few games in particular showed how the game was

played back then. On November 22, 1950, the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the

world-champion Minneapolis Lakers 19-18 in the lowest-scoring game ever.6 The

problems continued three years later, when 106 fouls were called and 128 free throws

were shot in a playoff game between the Boston Celtics and Syracuse Nationals.

Celtic great Bob Cousy scored 50 points, but 30 of them came at the foul line.7 He

was the only player to make more than five field goals in the entire game!8 A year

later, NBC gave the NBA an opportunity to shine by nationally televising a playoff

game between the Celtics and the New York Knicks. The 95-foul display ended in

humiliation for the league when the network switched away before the game had even

ended.9

The savior for the NBA emerged in the form of Syracuse Nationals owner

Danny Biasone, who instituted the 24-second shot clock that most agree saved the

league.10 The 1954-55 season was the first played with the shot clock, and the results

were a more wide open style of play far more appealing to television viewers than the

old style. The first national telecast of an NBA Finals game took place one season

later, when the Philadelphia Warriors and Fort Wayne Pistons met for the

championship.11

The NBA has been selected for this study to determine how television coverage

changed mass media coverage of basketball and the way the viewers perceived the

game. The early years of television and the problems faced by the NBA have largely

3

been ignored, and not much was written about the league before the popularity

explosion in the 1980s. But this was a league that struggled for nearly 40 years to find

its niche with the public, and it took a host of exciting young stars and the arrival of

David Stern as commissioner to turn the NBA's television fortunes around.

This study will examine television coverage of the NBA, including articles from

previous decades that chronicled the league's woes. Also, there will be a focus on the

broadcasts of key games that were critical in the league's evolution or regression and

how they impacted the league's development. These benchmarks include the Knicks-

Celtics game of which NBC ended coverage abruptly, the first NBA Finals game ever

broadcast, the 1970 NBA Finals, that brought unparalleled attention to the league, the

1984 NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Celtics that served as the

springboard to the NBA's current success, and the Chicago Bulls-Lakers showdown in

the 1980s that served as a changing of the guard in one respect, and the continuation

of league popularity.

In addition, there will be a comparison made to demonstrate how coverage of

the league has changed since the popularity explosion in the early 1980s. To

accomplish this, there will be an examination of different games for the 1980s and

1990s to analyze the content of commentary and visual presentation of NBA games.

Specifically, the comparison will be made between a regular season game from 1980, a

playoff game telecast on a local Milwaukee TV station, the 1987 NBA Finals, the

1991 NBA Finals, and the 1998 NBA Finals. Criticisms of how the announcers called

the game will also be analyzed. This study will note how the announcing style has

changed, if at all, from the years just before the NBA popularity increased. Also, the

production quality of the games will be analyzed, as well as the focus of commentary

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from the announcers. Comparisons will also be made in the pre-game and post-game

formats to follow any trends or changes in coverage.

Review of Literature

Only a few books and articles specifically dealt with television coverage of the

NBA. Other sources dealt with the reasons for the NBA's success or lack of success.

Several other works focused on the great players and their impact on the game, which

in turn influenced the television coverage of it. Finally, some articles dealt with the

analysis of network coverage and/or commentators that worked for those networks.

This section explores all of these works in the field of television coverage of

professional basketball.

In In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports, Benjamin G.

Rader discussed the key developments in sports that have been directly attributable to

television.12 He traced the NFL and baseball back to the first telecasts and explained

how sports evolved from a minor aspect of television programming in the early days to

becoming a major aspect of television programming. Rader also described how the

increase in prominence on television led to rule changes in football to make the game

more interesting for viewers at home, how network contracts were originally

negotiated, and how these contracts have ballooned in recent years. Rader specifically

described the NBA's beginnings as an unwanted, unwatched sport in the 1950s. He

then described the league's lack of success through the 60s and 70s and critics'

perspectives on the NBA's television problems. However, there was not a historical

analysis of the NBA's television coverage or as much in-depth analysis as Rader

devoted to baseball and football.

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Rader also explored the evolution of sports in America in another book,

American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports.13 In

the book, Rader asserted that the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) took the

lead among the major networks in increasing sports programming with the belief that

there would be an increased visibility for the network. Rader credited Roone Arledge

with ABC's success in doing so. This success led to the other networks creating an

intense competition for the right to televise the major sports. Rader also credited

Arledge with bringing the fan into the game with his use of a variety of camera angles.

As far as basketball was concerned, Rader insisted that the inability of the NBA to field

a strong team in New York was a major reason why television produced only modest

revenues. He also described how the 24-second clock was a hindrance, as well as an

aid, to the NBA's television future. Rader did admit to the NBA's rapid growth on

television in the 1980s, but as in his first book, he did not go into any detail about the

league's television history or the reasons for its success.

The National Broadcasting Association listed all of the contracts in every major

sport in the book, Sports on Television.14 The National Broadcasting Association

listed NBA rules on local telecasts, the local television stations that covered each team

in the NBA, and the stipulations of the league's contracts at the time. However, there

was no historical analysis of the relationship between the league and television, and

there was no discussion on current coverage of the games.

Marc Gunther discussed the role Roone Arledge played in developing the

modern technique of packaging sports for television in his book The House That

Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABC News.15 A chapter in Gunther's book was

devoted to Arledge's ascendance in ABC sports from his arrival in 1960. Basketball

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was mentioned briefly, but Gunther noted the innovations Arledge brought to sports

programming. However, this chapter on Arledge's influence on sports programming

was brief.

Bert Randolph Sugar also examined Arledge's contributions to televised sports

in The Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports.16 Sugar followed the course

of ABC's sports division throughout its history. The focus of this book was primarily

on the NFL and Arledge's "Monday Night Football" extravaganza than on the NBA.

Again, there was only a brief mention of basketball, since ABC had the rights to

televise professional games for ten of the leaner years in league history.

In addition to these books, other books about NBA history made brief

mentions of television, which were important pieces to the historic puzzle. Michael

LaBlanc presented a chronological history of every team in the NBA in his book,

Professional Sports Team Histories: Basketball.17 LaBlanc echoed the sentiments of

Rader when he wrote that the NBA suffered on television due to the fact that the New

York Knicks never had a winning team. In his section on the Knicks, LaBlanc also

described the nationally televised Knicks-Celtics playoff game in 1954 which was so

poorly played that NBC had to cut away from it.18 LaBlanc concluded that this game

and others like it before the shot clock did much to turn viewers and networks away

from the NBA. More a chronology of the league's teams, this book was not a source

of much information relating to television other than the Knicks-Celtics game

described.

Zander Hollander and Alex Sachare's traced the chronology of the entire NBA,

season by season, since it began as the Basketball Association (BAA) in 1946. In The

Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia,19 Zander and Hollander noted the key

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developments in each season. Television was not mentioned prominently, except for

the section on the adoption of the 24-second clock that many argued saved the league.

Also, the impact of stars like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, and others

was mentioned in association with NBA success on television.

In Roland Lazenby's chronology of finals games, The NBA Finals: A Fifty-Year

Celebration, he noted the development of the shot clock as a major step in enhancing

the NBA's image on television.20 In addition, he described the impact of the key

championship games on television, as well as the star players' impact on the league.

Lazenby pointed out the Celtics-Lakers rivalry in the 1960s and 1980s, as well as the

impact Larry Bird and Magic Johnson had on the league on television. Michael

Jordan's impact was also assessed by Lazenby in the Chicago Bulls' four Finals

appearances.

Lindsey Nelson provided an autobiography about his life and career in the

book, Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson, devoting an entire section to sports on

television and the role he played in covering sports for NBC when the medium was in

its infancy.21 Nelson provided a brief two-page glimpse of his days as a the play-by-

play man for NBC when the NBA had a contract with the network. He also described

how the league adapted to television those days, but he did not go into detail on the

history of the NBA on television and he provided no insight as to how the games were

produced.

Chapters in Benjamin Rader's books and a chapter for the Gunther and Sugar

books are the only books to deal with the NBA's history on television. Even so, the

history is brief since the league did not establish itself as an equal of the NFL and

baseball until the 1980s. However, several newspaper and magazine articles

8

chronicled the league's development on television, as well as its shortcomings. The

authors of these articles have also offered the prevailing opinions as to why the league

was struggling or prospering. Lazenby and Hollander & Sachare provided historical

backdrops for the NBA's relationship with television, and helped to support claims of

whether the league was advancing on TV or regressing.

Methodology

This paper will provide a historical analysis of NBA coverage on television,

starting from the first television contract through the NBA's current deal with NBC.

Each decade will be assessed in terms of how it either contributed or set back the

NBA. This will be done through the interpretation of articles written during these time

periods in publications such as The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Chicago

Tribune, Business Week, and TV Guide. This will also be accomplished through the

analysis of televised game coverage. These articles were chosen because they either

documented the NBA's history on television or they documented the league's history

itself and provided insight into how the NBA was perceived during those times.

Articles will also be used to describe the key games in the history of NBA television

coverage, as well as historical publications about the NBA which also focus on these

games. APA style will be used for all publications used in this thesis.

Each of the games selected for analysis will be scrutinized in terms of the

pregame, halftime, postgame, and game coverage. Specifically, the content of the

halftime and postgame shows will be examined to determine how the 1980s telecasts

differ from the '90s telecasts. Analysis of the pregame section will be broken down

into four areas: teases that start the telecasts, announcer introductions, and player

injuries and team introductions. The teases will be compared to see how they have

9

changed since 1980. Announcer introductions and player injuries and team

introductions will also be analyzed to determine any differences in coverage.

During the games themselves, the criteria that will be analyzed are the

commentary of the announcers, game themes the announcers touch on, the graphics

used during the games, and the use of replays and camera angles. Specifically, the

analysis of the announcers will be compared to determine how calling the games has

evolved over the last twenty years. Also, their analysis will be examined for detail and

depth. Criticisms of the announcers will provide background for the way they call the

games. Themes of the games that announcers touch on during the course of a game

will be examined to determine how these themes are created and supported.

Graphics will be analyzed to determine how they have changed over the years,

and how sophisticated they have become. The use of replays, which was pioneered by

ABC for its 1960s NFL telecasts, will be analyzed as well. There will also be a focus

on the number of replays, times during the game when replays were used, and the

various angles used by the networks in their coverage. The analysis of these games

will also be supplemented by clips from the 1970s to further examine the evolution of

NBA coverage. Theoretically, the 1970s and 1980s broadcasts should set the model

for the nineties' broadcasts, with the '90s' telecasts being the most sophisticated and

most technologically advanced.

Implications of Study

The implications of this study are that television changed the coverage of

basketball in mass media, and that the sport itself was changed by television. It is

expected that through the course of the NBA's relationship with television, the medium

has affected the way sportswriters cover the games as well as changing the way

10

1. Jeffrey Meitrodt, "NBA's Popularity Concerns Owners," The Times-Picayune 24 Jan.1997, p. S58.

2. Benjamin G. Rader, In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: Free Press, 1984), 51, 85.

3. Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age ofTelevised Sports (Upper Saddle Bridge, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996), 270.

4. Zander Hollander (ed.) & Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York:Villard Books, 1989), 55.

5. Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: Villard Books, 1989), 61.

6. Charles Paikert, "When Biasone Took 24 Seconds to Save the N.B.A.," The NewYork Times 28 Oct. 1984, Section 5, p. 2.

7. ibid, p. 2.

8. Zander Hollander (ed.), The NBA's Official Encyclopedia of Pro Basketball (New York:American Library 1981, 63).

9. Michael L. LaBlanc, Professional Sports Team Histories (Detroit: Gale Research Inc,1984, 78-79).

10. Charles Paikert, "When Biasone Took 24 Seconds to Save the N.B.A.," The New YorkTimes 28 Oct. 1984, Section 5, p. 2.

11. The Associated Press, "Warriors Topple Nats Five, 109-104," The New York Times 30March 1956, p. 15.

12. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed TelevisedSports (NY: Free Press, 1984).

broadcasters cover the games. Specifically, there are three questions this researcher

hopes to answer in this study:

1) How did television change the structure of the NBA game itself, through

rule changes or expansion?

2) How did television change the way sportswriters covered the NBA and in

what ways did it change print journalism coverage?

3) How has television affected the way games are broadcast today?

Notes

11

13. Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age ofTelevised Sports (NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1996).

14. National Association of Broadcasters, Sports on Television (Denver: Bortz & Company,Inc, 1990).

15. Mark Gunther, The House That Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABC News (Boston:Little, Brown & Company Inc., 1994).

16. Bert Randolph Sugar, The Thrill of Victory: The Inside Story of ABC Sports (New York:Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1978).

17. Michael L. LaBlanc, Professional Sports Team Histories: Basketball (Detroit:Gale Research Inc. 1994).

18. ibid, p. 79.

19. Zander Hollander & Alex Sachare, The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: VillardBooks, 1989).

20. Roland Lazenby, The NBA Finals: A Fifty-Year Celebration (Indianapoils: Masters Press,1996).

21. Lindsey Nelson, Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson (New York: Beech Tree Books,1961).

12

CHAPTER 2

1940s-1950s: FROM NBA BEGINNINGS TO TELEVISION BEGINNINGS

When television became a major part of American culture in the 1950s,

sports programming was not considered to be essential to network scheduling.

The DuMont Television Network pioneered sports programming, making football,

basketball, and baseball a regular part of its schedule. At first, writers and sports

promoters believed that television would have an adverse affect on sports by

hindering attendance figures. This view would change at the end of the decade, as

would the image of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

When the 1950s began, the NBA had been in existence for only four years.

The league received an early boost when four teams from the stronger National

Basketball League (NBL) defected to the NBA in 1949. The NBA also made the

transition to television and the DuMont Network in 1953. However, excessive

fouling and a slow style of play threatened the league's television future. A rule

change in 1955 sped up the game, and may have saved the league as well. By the

end of the 1950s, the NBA emerged as a league with growth potential. Most of

the teams were in larger markets than they had been at the start of the decade, and

the league changed networks to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and

maintained its television presence.

The first basketball game that appeared on television was not even a

professional game, but a college game. NBC had cornered the market on televised

sports, airing the first-ever baseball game, boxing match, tennis match, and football

game. All of these events were aired in 1939. One year later, NBC added to its

list of firsts by broadcasting the first basketball game, a college game between the

13

University of Pittsburgh and Fordham on February 28 in New York City.1 At this

time, the NBA had not even been formed. Instead, the NBL, a forerunner of the

NBA, was the preeminent professional league. The league was made up of

formerly independent clubs and clubs owned by the Goodyear and Firestone

Rubber companies of Akron, Ohio, and the General Electric Company of Fort

Wayne, Indiana.

The NBA Is Born

In 1946, Walter Brown of Boston, Al Sutphin of Cleveland, and Ned Irish,

a major college promoter, were among the leaders who formed the Basketball

Association of America (BAA).2 In just 10 years, college basketball had made the

jump from small gyms to big business.3 College doubleheaders at Madison Square

Garden had attracted a huge following, and the college doubleheader became a

strong attraction.4

Professional basketball teams had existed for nearly 50 years, yet were not

in the mainstream of sports.5 Hockey, on the other hand, had been somewhat

successful.6 Owners of big city arenas who had a lot of open dates purchased

hockey teams to fill seats, and these hockey teams proved to be valuable assets.7

This was the blueprint the BAA leaders sought to follow, as well as to draw

from the popularity of the college game by recruiting graduating players. The

leaders met on June 6, 1946, to organize their new league. There were 11

members of the BAA, and all had access to large arenas.8 Five were connected

with National Hockey League (NHL) clubs. Five others were tied to the American

Hockey League, the sport's top minor league. The 11th was Mike Uline, who ran

not a hockey team but an arena in Washington, D.C.9 Arthur Daley of The New

14

York Times noted the importance of the owners having access to large arenas,

writing that "This is an important distinction because lack of adequate facilities has

been the main stumbling block for all previous circuits."10 Daley predicted that

"the new league may not click overnight. However, it cannot help but succeed

eventually."11

The first game in modern professional basketball history took place on

November 2, 1946, with the New York Knicks playing Toronto in Canada.

However, over the next two seasons the BAA would struggle to survive. The first

season saw no universal radio coverage and little, if any, coverage at all from

newspapers except for home teams.12 The second season was even tougher, as

Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and Pittsburgh all folded.13 The Providence

Steamrollers would fold the next year after posting a 12-48 record.14 The BAA

was sinking fast and would need a boost to stay afloat.

The boost came in the form of the NBL, which was the more competitive

league. NBL teams were based in the Midwest, and it the teams had most of the

established professionals. The league also had the most important player: a 6-10

center from DePaul named George Mikan who played for the Minneapolis Lakers.

A writer for the Associated Press lamented that the loss of the Lakers was the most

devastating loss for the NBL, and the loss of Mikan would be equally large.

Already, it was noted in The New York Times that, "Big George Mikan rates as one

of the game's all time greats."15

Just before the 1948-49 season, Minneapolis, led by Mikan, along with

Rochester and Fort Wayne, joined the BAA. The top players were now playing in

the biggest arenas in the biggest publicity outlets.16 This move changed the BAA,

15

and so did Mikan. An article in The New York Times proclaimed, "Minneapolis'

George Mikan broke every N.B.L. scoring record last season and was the league's

biggest individual drawing card."17 At a time when any player scoring more than

20 points per game was rare, Mikan averaged an unheard of 28.3 point per game

(PPG) for the season.18 He won the scoring title, and the Lakers won their first

championship in the BAA. The NBL, however, was dead. After the loss of

Mikan, the quality of the league had been reduced considerably. The season was

played out, and six remaining franchises were absorbed by the BAA the next year.

The name of the unified league became the NBA.

By the time the 1950-51 season ended, the NBA found itself in the

mainstream of major league sports for the first time.19 It had total access to all of

the college stars, filling the void left by the college scandals. In addition, there

were several top players in the league, led by Mikan. Soon the television age

would give the league a greater opportunity for expansion, and it would be an

obscure fourth network that would provide the NBA with its first opportunity on

television.

The DuMont Network

In 1937, an engineer named Allen B. DuMont applied for and received an

experimental television license. DuMont had been the vice president of the

DeForest Radio Company in 1931, and that year he started the Allen B. DuMont

Laboratories, Inc. From 1931 to 1936 DuMont's company would be the only one

to mass produce cathode-ray tubes, which allowed a person to see electronic

impulses graphically displayed. DuMont's company became the first to

16

manufacture television sets, and soon the engineer began tinkering in the field of

television and created his own network.20

DuMont's first television station, W2XVT, began transmitting from

Passaic, New Jersey in February of 1939.21 Until 1954, the DuMont Television

Network would join NBC, CBS, and ABC as the networks of the nation. DuMont

would also offer several innovations along the way.

The network established many television firsts, such as televising the first

children's television series, the first soap opera and regularly televised professional

football and basketball games.22 Several prominent figures would get their start on

the network, including Mike Wallace (60 Minutes), Roone Arledge (president of

ABC News), comedian Ernie Kovacs, and Jackie Gleason.23

The network was most innovate when it came to televising sports. Peter

Kerr of The New York Times wrote, "Relatively few people in the early 1950s

knew or cared about professional football."24 They did not care, that is, until the

DuMont network began televising New York Giants games in 1952. The next year

the network expanded to covering other NFL teams on a weekly basis.25 The

DuMont Network's audience also grew when DuMont began broadcasting NBA

games that same year.26

For the 1953-54 season, the NBA agreed that DuMont would carry 13

regular season games at a cost of $39,000. By this time, the league had already

experimented with television in local markets. As early as 1948-49, The New York

Times reported that all Knicks games at Madison Square Garden would be

televised locally.27 The local station, WJZ-TV, also had exclusive rights to televise

Knicks' playoff games.28 However, the DuMont network provided the league with

17

the opportunity to go national. The DuMont Television Network folded in 1955,

but DuMont had established that sports programming could be a profitable

venture. NBC soon picked up where DuMont left off, and the NBA was back on

television.

Sports on Television

NBC and the NBA forged a contract that kept the league on television for

the next seven seasons, from 1954-55 to 1961-62. However, NBA ratings were

lukewarm at best. There were few articles that examined the NBA's development

on television during this time, but there were several articles related to the impact

television was having on sports, particularly baseball and football.

The initial concern sports promoters had with television was that it would

affect the attendance in stadiums. Time reported in its "Radio and TV" section

that, "Michigan Athletic Director Fritz Crisler told delegates: 'We're ready to throw

out television. Video could damage our gains seriously, and it is up to [us] to act

immediately.'"29 This same tone was taken in another article in Nation's Business

entitled, "Sports Behind Glass." Again, sports promoters and owners questioned

whether television would hurt attendance figures. Revere McVay reported that

Ned Irish, the Knicks owner, said that "television--instead of being hostile to the

Garden gates--proclaims an event to a broader base of the public than any other

medium."30 Irish even conducted an experiment during the season to see if

television did hurt attendance figures. He barred cameras from the first half of the

season, then televised the second half.31 McVay reported that, "Nothing unusual

was noted during the first half of the season. But advance sales jumped

18

considerably during the second half even in cases where one team had its allure

dimmed by losses."32

McVay also wrote that televised sports were also responsible for attracting

a female contingent, particularly in boxing and wrestling. This was confirmed

when McVay reported that "A sample audience in the Garden has revealed that as

many as 42 percent will be female."33 There was also the feeling amongst

television executives that television would attract the curious and educate them on

the fine points of whatever game they were watching. Then actual attendance at

the games would improve as a result.34

McVay also noted that television had changed the role of the sports

commentator. He wrote that while the radio announcer could conceal his lack of

insight by distorting the action and passing it off as the truth, "TV reporting

demands competence and expert evaluation."35 He also wrote that the television

audience found out that there was more to basketball than just putting the ball in

the hoop. He cited that broadcaster Curt Gowdy, himself a former basketball

player, "pointed out different shooting styles, offensive tactics and defensive

counters, adding to the suspense and judgment of the viewers."36 He concluded

the article by writing that television would have the same effect on sports as radio

did. Namely, that attendance would increase as television exposed more people to

the games themselves.

The same argument was carried out in a Business Week article called, "TV

Disrupts Sports Business." In the article, the author wrote that television was

affecting sports the same way it was believed television had affected plummeting

box office numbers for movies.37 The author did conclude that in the long run

19

television would eventually pay off for sports in overall income--mostly by

attracting new fans.38 The author added that the concern over attendance figures

was enough to persuade the NBA to ban television from all cities except for New

York.39

In "Sports and TV: What Next?", the author noted that sports promoters

realized that television "had increased the number of fans for all sports by the

millions."40 John Lardner provided his own breakdown of sports on television in

an article entitled, "Sports on TV--A Critical Survey." Lardner examined each

sport and his perceived notions about how television had impacted those sports.

Lardner's only assessment of basketball was, "I think it's fair to say that watching

basketball and hockey in person is preferable to watching them on television."41

The Shot Clock

During the early television years, the NBA was being affected by its image

as a rough-and-tumble game. In the early '50s, fouling had increased significantly

as the stalling game took its toll on the league. In 1954, NBC executives decided

to give the NBA a national showcase for the playoffs, the Knicks against a rising

power in Boston in Madison Square Garden. The result, however, damaged the

league's image and paved the way for a major rule change. After 95 fouls "one of

the worst basketball games ever played"42 was preempted by NBC. Accounts of

the game in The New York Times stated only that, "The Knicks experienced what

was simply the worst night of the season."43 There was no mention of the game's

impact on the national television audience or the fact that NBC had preempted its

coverage. But according to Michael LaBlanc, the league's television fortunes had

taken a giant step backward. After this episode and others like it, such as a 19-18

20

game played between Fort Wayne and Minneapolis in 1950, NBA owners knew a

change was needed or their league would cease to exist. Enter Syracuse Nationals

owner Danny Biasone. For three years Biasone had told anyone who would listen

that the league needed a shot clock to eliminate the stalling game.44 Biasone

explained his reasoning:

There was no way we could stop the stalling and fouling without a timeelement. Other sports had limits--in baseball you get three outs to score, infootball you must make ten yards in four downs or you lose the ball. But inbasketball, if you had a lead and a good ball handler, you could playaround all night. The only way for the other team to stop that was to grabhim and send him to the line. Then you'd foul him back. It was dull. 45

Biasone's idea was based on a test he had run during the summer of 1954,

in which he had some professionals and a group of high school players participate

in an experimental game while he used a stopwatch. Biasone discovered that most

shots were taken within 12 seconds, so he recommended that the clock be 24

seconds because he figured that during a 48-minute game, each team would have a

minimum of 60 possessions.46

The owners experimented in the exhibition season, found Biasone's idea

made sense, and instituted the 24-second clock for the 1954-55 season. Stalling

was prevented, but there was still the matter of excessive fouling. So the Board of

Governors adopted a rule limiting the number of fouls per team per quarter, after

which each foul became a shooting foul.47 The two rules were perfect

complements.

The immediate impacts of the new rule changes were felt. Scoring jumped

through the roof as tactics and coaching became less of a factor.48 The players

were finally free to do what they did best, which was to score and show off the

21

skills that in time would make the NBA such an attractive television commodity.

During the first season with the shot clock, NBA teams averaged 93.1 points per

game, an increase of 13.6 points per game over the previous year. In 1955 the

Boston Celtics became the first team in league history to average over 100 points

per game for an entire season; three years later every team in the league would

better that mark.49

However, none of the major newspapers commented on the impact of the

rule change and only The New York Times acknowledged the rule changes at all.

The story simply said that, "Emphasizing an effort to 'speed up play', the directors

of the National Basketball Association adopted two rule changes yesterday."50 The

fact that the rule changes were ignored in the Los Angeles Times, The Chicago

Tribune, and The Washington Post indicated the lack of coverage the league

received at that time. Baseball and football still ruled the sports pages, and the fact

that there were no NBA teams in those cities at the time also contributed to the

lack of newspaper coverage afforded to the NBA. Time magazine did analyze the

implementation of the shot clock and how it affected the NBA. It was reported

that, "This new rule . . . has made the pro game a better, faster, more exciting

sport. In other years, 'freezing' the ball in the late stages was the bane of the

game."51

Despite the success attributed to the new rules changes, new problems

emerged. Rader argued that the new rule had made it difficult for fans to get

excited until the last quarter of the game.52 Rader felt that since it was difficult for

teams to build a lead and then "sit" on it, it appeared the players were not exerting

themselves until the last quarter.53 He also wrote that if a team had a huge lead in

22

the last quarter, then that last quarter would be unexciting.54 Futhermore, Rader

stated that if the score was close in the middle of the last quarter, then what had

transpired before was insignificant.55 Again, there was little newspaper or

magazine coverage during the period to substantiate or refute Rader's claims. For

whatever reason, basketball was still not on par with football and baseball as a

major sports league. But the implementation of the shot clock proved to be

instrumental in the NBA Finals in 1955.

Biasone's rule change ended up benefiting his team, the Syracuse Nationals,

most of all. The Nats, as they were called, had fallen to the Minneapolis Lakers

and George Mikan in seven games in the 1950 NBA Finals. In 1954-55, led by

their Hall-of-Fame forward Dolph Schayes, Syracuse finally won the

championship, in seven games over the Ft. Wayne Pistons. The irony was that the

Nats had to come back from a 17-point deficit in the second quarter to win the

title. If not for the shot clock, the comeback would not have been possible, a fact

not lost on Biasone. "If it wasn't for the shot clock, it would have been the dullest

game in history,"56 he said. "Fort Wayne was up by 17. Under the old rules, they'd

have gone into a stall. Then there'd have been a flurry of fouls."57

There was little newpaper coverage of how the presence of a shot clock

had made Syracuse's victory possible. Both The Washington Post and The

Chicago Tribune simply reported the facts of the contest, without even

acknowledging the fact that without the shot clock Syracuse's comeback would not

have been possible. This was in keeping with the notion that the NBA simply was

not on the level of football and baseball in the mainstream of sports fans.

23

Television Coverage

The NBA produced only modest revenues on television, due in part to the

fact that the New York Knicks were unable to field a winning team.58 Benjamin

Rader, in his book In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sport,

argued that Ned Irish, the Knicks owner, was so abrasive and irritating to the other

owners that he was unable to get their help in building a strong franchise. That and

ill-advised trades and poor drafting helped to doom the Knicks in the mid-1950s.

Rader further argued that a strong franchise in New York would have produced

more lucrative contracts for the league as well as increasing the NBA's overall

attendance.59

Newspapers of the time did not provide any analysis of how Irish ran the

Knicks during this period. In fact, the NBA was rarely in the sports pages, and

when it was the New York Times usually provided only accounts of the games

themselves. There was no analysis of strategy or management moves or the

influence of television on the game.

In 1956, the first NBA Finals game was nationally televised, Game One of

the Philadelphia-Fort Wayne series. The NBA appeared to be on its way on

television, but former NBC broadcaster Lindsey Nelson recalled how everyone in

the league was still learning to cope with the young medium. It seemed that

commercial time-outs were a source of problems in those early days. Nelson wrote

in his autobiography, Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson, that commissioner

Podoloff had an answer:

24

He (Podoloff) was traveling to all the televised games to be sure thateverything went well. He knew that the future of the sport lay in itssuccess on the tube. . . And when television needed a time-out, the stagemanager would tell Podoloff. He would then walk briskly around behindthe bench, tap one coach on the shoulder, and say, 'Call time out.'. . . That'show time-outs were handled.60

By the 1957-58 season the NBA had emerged as a league with growth

potential. This was supported by the fact that the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to

Detroit and the Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati. Only three years earlier,

half of the league's teams had been based in cities of less than 1,000,000 people;

now only the Syracuse Nationals were in that category.61 The NBA image was

also boosted by the influx of new stars that drove gate receipts and salaries up, and

it made the league's television prospects appealing.

An article in TV Guide, "Hooping it Up For Television," examined the

importance of television to the NBA. In it the author wrote that, "Network

coverage of pro basketball not only has spread the fame of the sport but has

increased the stature of the individual players."62 The result was that major cities

were sending Commissioner Podoloff applications to join the league. Podoloff

attributed this to television. He said that "'All this interest has suddenly come up

since the games have been on network TV.'"63 The NBA was scheduling games in

non-league cities, which allowed for audience TV build-ups in promoting the

return of college-area stars such as Bill Russell (San Francisco), Elgin Baylor

(Seattle), and Slater Martin (Texas). Also, owners continued to voice their disdain

for televising home games. Celtics president Walter Brown said that "'on the days

the games were televised from Boston Garden, we drew less than 5,000 fans. The

other Garden playoff games averaged 12-13,000 fans.'"64

25

1. "Tune in to the history of sports TV," USA Today 3 Dec. 1991, p. 3C.


3. ibid, p. 39.

There was also criticism of the broadcasts themselves from players and

coaches. Celtic coach Red Auerbach said that he did not feel NBA telecasts were

as good as they should have been. He added that, "'They should give the viewers

more at halftime. More interviews with players, coaches, and officials.'"65 Bob

Cousy added that he felt there were not enough close-ups of players during the

games. He said, "'The expressions of emotion (on a penalty) or anguish (when a

shot is missed) would bring more tension to the telecasts.'"66 Despite the criticisms

from owners, players, and coaches, the NBA continued its relationship with NBC

into the 1960s.

Conclusion

The 1950s were a time of experimentation for the NBA on television; in

fact all of television was experimental at the time. The league gained its first

television exposure only to be undone by its slow pace and propensity for excessive

fouling. Biasone's shot clock saved the game and revitalized it on television. The

NBA made the move to NBC after the DuMont network folded in 1954, and the

league made small strides on the new medium. By the end of the decade, the

league and television had forged a partnership that would last, despite all of the

problems the league would endure, through the next four decades.

Notes

26

4. ibid, p. 39.

5. ibid, p. 39.

6. ibid, p. 39.

7. ibid, p. 40.

8. ibid, p. 40.

9. ibid, p. 40.

10. Arthur Daley, "Short Shots in Sundry Directions," The New York Times 1 Nov. 1946, p.28.

11. ibid, p. 28.

12. Zander Hollander (ed.) & Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (NewYork: Villard Books, 1989), 41.

13. ibid, p. 44.

14. ibid, p. 44.

15. The Associated Press, "3 Quintets Ready to Change Leagues," The New York Times 9May 1948, Section 5, p. 7.


17. The Associated Press, "Four Pro Quintets Jump to New Loop," The New York Times 11May 1948, p. 34.


19. ibid, p. 57.

20. Philip J. Auter & Douglas A. Boyd, "DuMont: The Original Fourth Television Network,"The Journal of Popular Culture 29 (Winter 1995): 63.

21. ibid, p. 64.

22. ibid, p. 68.

23. Peter Kerr, "A Network of the Past Could Be A Model for the Future," The New YorkTimes 3 June 1984, Sect. 2, p. 27, col. 1.

24. ibid, p. 27.

27

25. ibid, p. 27.

26. ibid, p. 27.

27. "The News of Radio", The New York Times 19 May 1948, p. 54.

28. ibid, p. 54.

29. "Air Wave of the Future," Time 30 Jan. 1950, p. 66.

30. Revere McVay, "Sports Behind the Glass," Nation's Business Sept. 1950, p. 44.

31. ibid, p. 44.

32. ibid, p. 44.

33. ibid, p. 45.

34. ibid, p. 45.

35. ibid, p. 86.

36. ibid, p. 86.

37. "TV Disrupts Sports Business," Business Week 27 Jan. 1951, p. 52.

38. ibid, p. 52.

39. ibid, p. 52.

40. "Sports and TV: What Next?" Business Week 16 June 1951, p. 24.

41. John Lardner, "Sports on TV--A Critical Survey," The New York Times Magazine 25Dec. 1955, p. 27.

42. Michael L. LaBlanc, (ed.), Professional Basketball Teams: Basketball, (Detroit: GaleResearch Inc., 1994), 78.

43. Joseph M. Sheehan, "Celtics Trounce Knickerbockers in First Game," The New YorkTimes 17 March 1954, p. 37.

44. Lazenby, Roland, The NBA Finals: A Fifty-Year Celebration (Indianapolis: MastersPress, 1996), 59.

45. Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: Villard Books, 1994),61-62.

46. Roland Lazenby, The NBA Finals: A Fifty-Year Celebration (Indianapolis: Masters Press,1996), 59.

28

47. Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: Villard Books, 1994),62.


49. Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: Villard Books, 1994),62.

50. "Basketball Loop Changes 2 Rules," The New York Times 24 April 1954, p. 23.

51. "24 Seconds to Shoot," Time 20 Dec. 1954, p. 56.

52. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Transformed Sports (New York:Free Press, 1984), 146.

53. ibid, p. 147.

54. ibid, p. 147.

55. ibid, p. 147.


57. ibid, p. 67.

58. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports, (NewYork: Free Press, 1984), 146.

59. ibid, p. 146.

60. Lindsey Nelson, Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson (New York: Beech Tree Books,1985), 261.

61. Zander Hollander (ed.), & Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (NewYork: Villard Books, 1989), 72.

62. "Hooping it Up For Television," TV Guide 7 Feb. 1959, p. 22.

63. ibid, p. 22.

64. ibid, p. 23.

65. ibid, p. 23.

66. ibid, p. 23.

29

CHAPTER 3THE 1960S: A TURBULENT DECADE FOR THE NBA

In the 1960s there was more of a focus for writers on the relationship

between sports and television than there was for the NBA and television. In the

NBA, franchise moves were dictated by market size, although reporters during that

time never expressed that. For example, the Lakers and Hawks moved from small

market cities Minneapolis and St. Louis to Los Angeles and Atlanta, respectively.

Yet none of the major newspapers discussed the fact that Atlanta and Los Angeles

were better television markets than St. Louis and Minneapolis.

The NBA also faced a challenge from two upstart leagues, the ABL and the

ABA. The ABL folded after only a year-and-a half, but the ABA, which started in

1967, would battle the NBA for college and professional talent. The league was

unceremoniously dropped from NBC in 1962, but with a new commissioner the

NBA found a home on ABC. League television fortunes were on the rise,

culminating with the Knicks' championship season of 1969-70.

Sports on Television

In the early 1960s, writers were still examining the relationship between

television and sports. James Tuite of The New York Times argued that the advent

of television had created the need for insightful analysis, and networks soon turned

to former athletes to describe the action to viewers.1 Tuite wrote that, "Some

(former athletes) of them lack a mellifluous voice and a smooth delivery, but their

know-how, their enthusiasm and their love for the game have brought a new

dimension to broadcasting."2 In 1966, ABC Sports President Roone Arledge of

30

ABC wrote that "Physically, professional basketball is an excellent sport

fortelevision; it's played in a confined area and the cameras can be placed to show

the agility, finesse, and contact."3 Arledge also wrote that one of the growing

problems was that there was a feeling that everything that occurred before the last

10 minutes of the game was inconsequential.4 Arledge later wrote the theory was

inaccurate, unless a person wanted to see the results or wanted to bet on the game.

He added that the principal weakness of basketball was that the commentators did

not educate the public well enough on the subtleties of basketball strategy, as they

did in football. Arledge contended that this was difficult since there was no natural

break in basketball, because the action was constant.

There was also a backlash by writers during the 1960s against the TV

timeout and the overcommercialization of sports. An article in Newsweek called

"Breaks in the Game," cited the example of Celtic player-coach Bill Russell being

fined $50 during the 1966 season for refusing to call a TV-ordered timeout in the

midst of a Celtic rally against the Philadelphia 76ers.5 Richard L. Tobin argued

that sports should be returned to the journalists from Madison Avenue in a

Saturday Review article called, "Time Outs and Other Nonsense in TV Sports."6

William Johnson described the impact television had on sports in an article

called, "TV Made it All A New Game." Johnson contended that "in the past 10

years sport in America has come to be the stepchild of television. . . "7 Johnson

maintained that television money was responsible for the high salaries earned by the

athletes, as well as keeping great franchises afloat that would otherwise go

bankrupt.8 Johnson also described how television dictated franchise shifts in each

of the major sports. The Milwaukee Braves, Minneapolis Lakers, and Chicago

31

Cardinals all shifted locations almost entirely because of the prospects of

television.9 He added that in 1969, there were 87 major league franchises in

basketball, football, baseball, and hockey. Just a decade earlier, there were only

42.10 NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said himself that without television, half of

the NFL's 26 teams would not exist and the rest would be struggling.11 Johnson

ended by describing how baseball had been affected by television in terms of the

sport's loss in popularity.

NBA

By the time the 1960-61 season arrived, there was one major geographical

change in the NBA. The Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles as the

league expanded westward. The irony was that it was the prospect of a rival

league sprouting on the west coast that forced NBA owners to accept the move.

Following the glory days of Mikan, the Lakers were losing so much money that

they were forced to sell off their players to meet expenses.12 Then Laker

management learned that major league baseball was moving a franchise to

Minneapolis.13 Team owner Bob Short knew the competition would be too much

for the Lakers, so he asked the league to move the franchise to the recently

constructed 14,000-seat SportsArena in Los Angeles.14

Originally the league owners turned down the request, 7-1, but then they

heard that Abe Saperstein, the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, had

announced plans to form the American Basketball League (ABL).15 None of the

owners wanted the ABL to get a head start in establishing franchises in the vast

western market, so they voted 8-0 to allow Short to move the team to Los

Angeles.16 Hence, the NBA's westward expansion was born from necessity. None

32

of the newspapers noted that the Lakers' move to Los Angeles might have had

something to do with the fact that Los Angeles was a far larger market than

Minneapolis. Also, Sports Illustrated did not cover the franchise relocation at the

time it occurred.

The ABL

In 1961, Abe Saperstein's vision of a basketball league came to fruition,

when, the first ABL game was ever played. Melvin Durslag explained in a TV

Guide article entitled, "Keeping One Eye on the Basket, the Other On TV", that

Saperstein's principal reason for forming the rival league was to exact revenge on

his NBA counterparts.17 Durslag wrote that Saperstein, the owner of the Harlem

Globetrotters, had noticed that Los Angeles was "shockingly devoid" of

professional basketball.18 Durslag added that, "With the encouragement of several

owners in the National Basketball Association, who professed to be his friends,

Saperstein tried to establish an NBA franchise in the city."19. Saperstein's reasons

for wanting to establish a team in Los Angeles were that the Dodgers, who had

moved from Brooklyn in 1958, were flourishing, professional football was also

prospering in Los Angeles, and race tracks were setting attendance records.20 Los

Angeles was an untapped gold mine as far as Saperstein was concerned, and he

wanted to be the one to place an NBA franchise there.

But Saperstein said he was betrayed by the owners when they switched

their allegiance to Bob Short and the floundering Minneapolis franchise. Enraged,

Saperstein "resolved to teach the NBA a lesson."21 He started the ABL in 1961,

featuring teams in eight cities (including Honolulu), with Saperstein serving as the

owner of the Chicago franchise and as the league commissioner.22

33

Durslag also wrote that the NBA hoped the ABL would disappear by next

season, because if it didn't, its chances of landing a national television deal would

be enhanced.23 In 1961-62, the ABL had appeared on regional and local television,

conflicting at times with NBA games on television.24 And since the ABL playoffs

began in mid-March, around the same time as the NBA playoffs began, there was a

chance that they would conflict again on television.25 It was not the situation NBA

owners wanted. They obviously wanted only one product available to the public

on television so that ratings would be strong and revenues would be high. This is

why the owners wished Saperstein and his rival league would just go away.

An NBA executive said he did not envision the ABL landing a network

contract anytime soon because "'it took us 5 years to sell it (the NBA)

nationally.'"26 The same executive said that while the NBA had improved its

standing on television in recent years, the demand still wasn't great. He added,

"'The league is coming up very well, but sponsors still aren't knocking down the

doors to buy it.'"27 This more than any other comment showed the NBA's

prospects in the early '60s. The league was making money, but there was no great

demand for the games. Durslag determined that the NBA received $15,000 for

each nationally televised game during the season, while the ABL received only

$1,000 from local and regional programming.

Saperstein remained undaunted, saying:

Of the thousands of basketball players coming out of college each year,the NBA takes only a handful--maybe 25 or less. This leaves all sorts offirst-class material for us. We definitely have the product in our league. All we need is promotion and exposure.28

34

However, the league never did land the network deal it sought. After the

first season, The New York Times reported that the ABL had lost $1,500,000.29

And with few of the top-name collegians ready to try it, the ABL folded in just a

year-and-a half.30 The NBA then swooped in to sign ABL stars since the league

had folded.31

NBA Changes Networks

However, as the 1961 season ended, the NBA again found itself on shaky

ground with television executives. Prior to the 1962 season, NBC had refused to

renew its contract with the NBA. Supposedly, it was a numbers game: NBA

ratings for Saturday afternoon games dipped to 4.8 (9 million viewers) as

compared to Sunday afternoon NFL ratings of 10.4 (15 million viewers).32 One

big reason for the ratings slip was that the NBA, in planning its schedule before the

season began, placed its three weakest teams--Chicago, Syracuse, and Detroit--on

television a total of 14 times. On the other hand, three of the best teams--Boston,

St. Louis, and Philadelphia--appeared a total of only seven times.33

Before the 1963-64 season began, there were major changes in the NBA.

The Warriors, who had the league's top gate attraction in Chamberlain, moved

from Philadelphia to San Francisco and the Western Conference for $850,000.34

The Chicago Packers, who had joined the league in 1961, changed their name to

the Zephyrs and then moved to Baltimore in midseason to become the Bullets.35

The Syracuse Nationals filled the void in Philadelphia and assumed the name of the

76ers. Now, for the first time, the NBA had all eight of its franchises in major

cities.36 Syracuse owner Biasone alluded to this when he said, "'The area just does

not have enough population to enable a major team to flourish.'"37 When the

35

season began, the league was back on network television thanks to the assistance

of a new commissioner.

Maurice Podoloff, the league's first and only commissioner since 1946, was

replaced by Walter Kennedy. Kennedy had been an NBA publicity man and he

retired from his post as mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, to accept the job of

commissioner. Reportedly, the first question Kennedy was asked in his first

interview for the position was, "Do you think you can get us back on national

TV?"38 Roone Arledge, the president of ABC sports at the time, was looking for

programming that could diminish the ratings of "CBS Sports Spectacular", and

give Arledge's program "Wide World of Sports" a boost with sponsors.

Arledge's idea was to place live programming in competition with CBS' taped

events.39 Hence, a relationship with the NBA was forged.

The league experimented that season, out of necessity, with becoming the

first sports league to air games during prime time on a national level in America.40

The result would be 11 weeks on 60 stations for the NBA to peddle its product, a

move that other sports leagues would no doubt be watching closely.41 ABC paid a

mere $650,000 for the rights annually, which showed how much of a struggle the

league was having on television.42 Ratings crept upward, from a 6.0 in 1965 to an

8.2 in 1968, as basketball began to gain something of a foothold on television (see

Appendix B).

NBA ratings improved as the '60s wore on. It was reported in Advertising

Age that in 1966 there was a 26 percent increase in average audience per minute of

3,964,000 homes.43 The article in Advertising Age stated that ABC touted NBA

telecasts as the most efficient sports buy for advertisers in television.44 Attendance

36

had risen steadily in the previous four years, and in the first four weeks of the 1966

season it jumped 35 percent.45

The NBA expanded in 1966-67, adding a franchise in the potent media

market of Chicago, the Bulls. It was reported in Advertising Age that the Bulls

had already reported several sellouts for their first season.46 Due to all the success

the NBA was enjoying, the league expanded again one year later. In 1967-68, the

NBA added two more expansion franchises, the Seattle Supersonics and the San

Diego Rockets.47 The Knicks moved into a new and larger Madison Square

Garden; seating 19,500, and the Lakers moved into the new 17,500-seat Forum

built by new owner Jack Kent Cooke. In addition, the league's new television

contract with ABC now was worth almost $1 million a year.48

There was also another franchise relocation in the NBA in 1968. Bob

Kerner, the owner of the St. Louis Hawks, had watched as his team struggle

financially while playing in a 9,000-seat arena.49 Kerner was quoted as saying,

"'They (St. Louis) just don't want our product here anymore.'"50 So Kerner sold

his team and the Hawks moved to Atlanta, their fourth home (after Tri-Cities,

Milwaukee, and St. Louis).51

The ABA

The prosperity the league was enjoying was not lost on several outside

observers, who formed a new rival league called the ABA. The ABA established

franchises in major cities that had been spurned by the NBA. Dallas, Denver,

Houston, and Oakland were some of the original members of the 11-team league.

The ABA gained instant credibility when it named NBA legend George Mikan as

the first commissioner and when NBA star Rick Barry signed with the Oakland

37

Oaks.52 According to Leonard Koppett of The New York Times, the ABA also

received equal treatment from newspapers as the NBA.53

As the 1968-69 season began, there were more changes in store for the

NBA, as well as the ABA. Two more expansion teams, the Phoenix Suns and the

Milwaukee Bucks, joined the NBA.54 A coin toss that the Milwaukee Bucks won

ended in the drafting of Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the most highly

touted rookie in years. The only question was whether the Bucks could sign

Alcindor, because his ABA rights were given to the New York Nets in an effort to

boost the league's prime market.55

The signing of Alcindor would have been a major coup for the ABA and a

major loss for the NBA, but Alcindor was offered more money initially by the

Bucks and he opted to play in the NBA. Newsweek saw the failure of the ABA to

sign Alcindor as a potential death knell for the league.56 An article called "Bleak

House" stated that, "Alcindor had been the basis for ABA dreams of large

crowds,television revenues and respectability. Without him, the league remains

distinctly minor--and its leaders loud and bitter."57

Mikan resigned in July of 1969, and Jack Dolph succeeded him.58 Dolph

was a director of sports for CBS before his hiring, and ABA officials made no

secret that was one of the reasons why Dolph was hired. Jim Gardner, president of

the ABA and owner of the Carolina Cougars said, "'Jack will be out to sell our

league in TV, merchandising, new franchises and radio.'"59 Writer Sam Goldaper

noted that "The A.B.A. considers a television contract vital to its existence and the

hiring of Dolph . . . may be the answer to one of their chief problems."60

38

Dolph did succeed in getting the ABA All-Star Game to be televised

nationwide, and it was held in Indianapolis in front of a crowd of over 11,000

people.61 However, the season's real story was in the NBA, where the Knicks,

seemingly overnight, had become championship contenders. Finally, the NBA's

marquee team was ready to lead them in the television age.

The Knicks Become Winners

The NBA had struggled in New York since the early 1950s. Then, during

the 1969-70 season, the Knicks captured the attention of basketball fans and the

national media. Lawrence Shainberg wrote about the Knick phenomenon in "A

Fan's Notes on the Amazing Knicks", which appeared in The New York Times

Magazine. Shainberg wrote that "The media, because they are a New York team,

and because the Mets excitement has left them with a lot of unattached

superlatives, are scrambling after them in frenzy."62 This sentiment was echoed in

"You Gotta Have Heart" in Newsweek, when it was written that, "The first 100

games had included . . . unprecedented national exposure--aided mightily by New

York's enormous concentration of media--that had given pro basketball itsbrightest

image ever."63 Shainberg added that there were feature stories being prepared by

every national magazine, all the TV networks, most of the local TV stations.64

There were also four books being written and two more in negotiation.65

Shainberg added that the Knicks' appeal to the fans was that, "In a game of

individuals, they are a community."66 The Knicks culminated the season with a

championship, and soon writers began pondering if basketball was going to

become the "Sport of the '70s."

39

1. James Tuite, "From Playing Field to Announcing: Then and Now," The New York Times 11Aug. 1963, Sect. 2, p. 13.

2. ibid, p. 13.

3. Roone Arledge, "It's Sport, It's Money, It's TV," Sports Illustrated 25 April 1966, p. 103.

4. ibid, p. 103.

5. "Breaks in the Game," Newsweek 5 June 1967, p. 66.

6. Richard L. Tobin, "Time Outs and Other Nonsense in TV Sports," Saturday Review, 9Dec. 1967, p. 58.

7. William Johnson, "TV Made It All A New Game," Sports Illustrated 22 Dec. 1969, p. 88.

8. ibid, p. 88.

9. ibid, p. 92.

10. ibid, p. 92.

11. ibid, p. 92.

12. Roland Lazenby, The NBA Finals: A Fifty-Year Celebration (Indianaoplis: Masters Press,1996), 96.

13. ibid, p. 96.

Conclusion

The 1960s had started poorly for the NBA, but by the end of the decade

the league was enjoying its greatest national recognition. However, the NBA was

expanding too rapidly, and with a rival league the talent base was spread too thin.67

Costs soared but revenues didn't, and while professional basketball in new markets

would be a tremendous asset a decade later, it was a huge burden during the

1970s.68 The league would endure a dark decade, falling so far that the NBA

Finals would be pushed into the nether regions of televised sports--tape-delay. It

would not be until the 1980s that the league could reverse itself on the tube, and

with it change its image completely.

Notes

40

14. ibid, p. 96.

15. ibid, p. 96.

16. ibid, p. 96.

17. Melvin Durslag, "Keeping One Eye on the Basket, the Other on TV," TV Guide 24 March1962, p. 4.

18. ibid, p. 4.

19. ibid, p. 4.

20. ibid, p. 4.

21. ibid, p. 4.

22. ibid, p. 5.

23. ibid, p. 5.

24. ibid, p. 5.

25. ibid, p. 5.

26. ibid, p. 5.

27. ibid, p. 5.

28. ibid, p. 5.

29. "$1,500,000 Lost By A.B.L.," The New York Times 13 April 1962, p. 45.


31. "NBA May Try To Sign ABL Stars," The Washington Post 2 Jan. 1963, p. A21.

32. William Leggett, "Growing to Greatness", Sports Illustrated 29 Oct. 1962, p. 41.

33. ibid, p. 41.

34. "Wilt & Warriors Move to S.F. for $850,000," Los Angeles Times 24 May 1962, Part III,p. 1.


36. ibid, p. 88.

41

37. Michael Strauss, "N.B.A. Approves Syracuse Shift," The New York Times 23 May 1963,p. 45.

38. Bert Randolph Sugar, The Thrill of Victory (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1978), 122.

39. ibid, p. 123.

40. William Leggett, "The NBA Gets A New Image," Sports Illustrated 28 Oct. 1963, p. 31.

41. ibid, p. 31.

42. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: The Free Press, 1984), 147.

43. "Basketball Waits in Wings to Fill in Broadcast Sports Scene After Jan. 1," AdvertisingAge 21 Nov. 1966, p. 3.

44. ibid, p. 4.

45. ibid, p. 4.

46. ibid, p. 4.

47. The Associated Press, "Team Will Start in 1967-68 Season," The New York Times 21Dec. 1966, p. 50.


49. ibid, p. 104.

50. The Associated Press, "St. Louis Losing Hawks to Atlanta," The Washington Post 4 May1968, p. D2.

51. Zander Hollander (ed.) & Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (NewYork: Villard Press, 1989), 104.

52. ibid, 100.

53. Leonard Koppett, "The New League: Early Evaluation," The New York Times 26 Nov.1967, p. S3.

54. "Milwaukee and Phoenix Obtain N.B.A. Franchises For Next Season," The New YorkTimes 23 Jan. 1968, p. 30.


56. "Bleak House," Newsweek 14 April 1969, p. 98.

42

57. ibid, p. 98.

58. Sam Goldaper, "Dolph, a TV Sports Executive, Named Commissioner of A.B.A.," TheNew York Times 30 Oct. 1959, p. 61.

59. ibid, p. 61.

60. ibid, p. 61.


62. Lawrence Shainberg, "A Fan's Note on the Amazing Knicks," The New York TimesMagazine 25 Jan. 1970, 34.

63. "You Gotta Have Heart," Newsweek 18 May 1970, p. 93.

64. Lawrence Shainberg, "A Fan's Note on the Amazing Kincks," The New YorkTimes Magazine 25 Jan. 1970, p. 34.

65. ibid, p. 34.

66. ibid, p. 38.


68. ibid, p. 116.

43

CHAPTER 4THE 1970s: A DECADE OF UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS

The New York Knicks had finally focused national attention on the NBA,

and as the 1970s started, there was optimism that the league would finally find its

niche in television. NBA ratings had been climbing steadily since the league had

signed its contract with ABC, and the NBA finally had a winner in New York.

There were new stars and better athletes than there had ever been before, but the

NBA seemed to be expanding too rapidly for its own good.

The league expanded for the third time in three years in 1970, with the

addition of Buffalo, Cleveland, and Portland. In addition to the 11 teams in the

ABA, this dilution of talent would hurt the league through much of the decade. By

the end of the 1970s, the NBA and ABA would merge, but the league's image

would be tarnished. The NBA would become so unattractive to television viewers

that by the end of the decade the Finals would languish on tape-delay, only to be

seen by basketball's true fans. Thus, a decade of promise deteriorated into a

decade of unfulfilled expectations.

Expansion

The NBA expanded in 1970 to include three new teams in Buffalo,

Cleveland, and Portland. The Cincinnati Royals moved to Kansas City in 1972

because of poor attendance.1 New Orleans became the eighteenth team in 1974-

75, as the franchise's owners paid a hefty $6.15 million to NBA owners.2

However, writers saw these moves as overexpansion, that diluted the talent in the

game. Joseph Durso of The New York Times noted that the challenge of new

44

leagues in basketball, football, and hockey added to the problems.3 Durso

addedthat matters were worsened when money began pouring into sports from

television.4 This only added to the problems the league would be facing at the end

of the decade.

"The Sport of the 1970s"

The 1970s started well enough, with the NBA enjoying new attention

courtesy of the Knicks' championship. William Marsano of TV Guide went as far

as predicting that the game would become the sport of the '70s, much the same as

football had been the sport of the '60s.5 The big reason was television. It was

argued that basketball was a more attractive television commodity because it was a

game of constant motion.6 There was finesse and skill, as well as the occasional

touches of power, the ball was easily visible, and basketball games were never

rained out.7

The assimilation of college players into the NBA ranks was cited as another

reason for the league's growth potential because fans would have an interest in

following their favorite players in the pros. Also, the NBA contract for ABC was

worth only $3 million in 1969. Baseball, in contrast, cost $16.5 million and the

NFL cost CBS about $22 million--each for one season.8 This meant that ABC had

made a bargain in purchasing the rights to the NBA, considering the league's

steady ratings. But Durslag saw potential problems the league would have to

overcome to become a major league. Among these problems were erratic

officiating, agonizingly long road trips, small arenas, and the NBA's expansion

plan. These problems, as well as the threat of a merger with the ABA, were seen

as potential cripplers. Of course, all of these problems were related to television,

45

where the fans could see for themselves the quality of arenas, officiating and play

between two road-weary teams. Durslag's concerns would become prophetic as

the NBA experienced a difficult decade on television.

Commissioner Walter Kennedy openly discussed the impact television had

on the NBA in the TV Guide article, "They'll Move on to Athens . . . If They Ever

Get Cleveland Straightened Out." In the article Kennedy predicted that "in 10

years the NBA will have four teams in Europe playing full schedules."9 This,

Kennedy said, would be possible only through television, the same way Americans

picked up the jump shot and behind-the-back dribble when the NBA was first

broadcast in 1952.10 Kennedy also discussed how the league's ratings had

improved its standing with ABC.

In 1972, John Carol refuted the claim that basketball would be the "Sport

of the '70s," in "TV Talk" in Sports Illustrated. Carol cited that football ratings

had improved by 10 percent since 1971, while basketball ratings, despite a slight

increase, had slipped relative to other attractions.11 Carol noted that there was a

thin profit margin for ABC's NBA telecasts, and he wrote that the network was

considering adjustments to change that. Regional coverage was a possibility, since

it had worked so well for football, but the costs go up with each game added.

Carol also contrasted the NBA's television problems with college basketball's

booming ratings. He also wrote there was another development in basketball

punctured the myth of it becoming the sport of the decade. That came when the

ABA had to cancel a series it had planned amongst four of its best franchises--

Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia.12 The reason given for the cancellation

was a lack of sponsors.13

46

Criticisms of Coverage

As the 1970s began, ABC began to come under fire for what some saw as

its less-than-spectacular presentation of the NBA. This problem would persist

throughout the decade, even as the NBA changed networks. Frank Deford, in "TV

Talk" in Sports Illustrated, wrote in 1971 that, "It is unlikely that sport has ever

been presented so dismally in prime time as it was in this year's coverage of the

NBA championships on ABC."14 Chris Shenkel, ABC's play-by-play man, was

criticized by Deford for his failure to appreciate the nuances of the game.15 Deford

also criticized ABC for its halftime shows, of which he wrote, "Since ABC offered

nothing innovative or imaginative to fill these voids, the result was a series of

dreary courtside exchanges, many in the form of congratulations and compliments

from people like the NBA commissioner and various club owners."16

Deford also wrote that ABC's mistake was that it covered an NBA game

the same way it covered a football game. This was the same criticism Roone

Arledge had made a few years earlier in an article he had written in Sports

Illustrated. Deford, like Arledge, believed that covering basketball in the same

way as football was a mistake because they were two different games. Because

much of what happened in basketball occurred away from the ball, it was important

in Deford's mind that ABC provide the necessary insight into the game's subtleties.

Instead, Deford wrote that neither ABC's announcers nor cameras were

able to isolate the important phases of the game, and that replays were used only to

second-guess officials rather than "capture the grace and precision of the

performers."17 Dave Kindred agreed with Deford's assessment about the subtleties

of the game being lost in television in an article in The Washington Post called,

47

"Tube Boob Can't Cope With NBA; Subtleties Too Rich for TV." Kindred added

that too much happened too quickly during the course of a game, and the speed at

which the game was played did not allow for much reflection.18

At the end of the 1973-74 season, CBS and the NBA agreed to a 3-year,

$27 million contract (see Appendix B). ABC, which had nurtured the NBA back

to respectability, was outraged. The network took the NBA to court but lost,

charging that the NBA had not negotiated "in good faith".19 Arledge shot back by

counterprogramming his "Wide World of Sports" on Sunday against CBS' NBA

telecasts.20

The NBA may have changed networks, but the criticisms of network

coverage persisted. William Leggett commented on what observers felt was CBS'

mishandling of NBA telecasts in an article called, "Slam-Dunked By the Ratings" in

Sports Illustrated. Leggett wrote that NBA telecasts had become an "unpleasant

exercise" with the playing of so much loud music, the hiring and firing of so many

announcers that viewers got no feeling of stability; a pregame show that consisted

of mini-teams of celebrities and active and former NBA players competing against

each other; and a halftime show called "Horse".21 Even NBA players such as Bob

Lanier agreed that there should have been a continuity of announcers, so fans could

relate to them.22

John Papanek also criticized CBS' coverage of the NBA in a Sports

Illustrated article called, "There's An Ill Wind Blowing for the NBA." Papanek

indicted CBS for "treating its telecasts as little more than a bridge between a

refrigerator race and a golf tournament"23 Papanek also criticized the network for

televising a slew of regional games instead of one big national game, thus

48

fragmenting the ratings even further. He also wrote that CBS had erred by billing

games as players against players rather than teams, such as "Dr. J vs. Rick Barry",

and "David Thompson vs. Pistol Pete."24 Also, according to Papanek, there was

too much attention focused on the slam dunk, with replay after replay

demonstrating the action.25 Papanek also agreed with Leggett's observation that

CBS' halftime shows were devoted to slamdunk or Horse contests and needed to

be replaced.26

CBS Struggles to Improve Coverage

The NBA took notice of the criticism and managed to persuade CBS to

eliminate its halftime show and replace it with human-interest shows about the

players.27 There also was a possibility that CBS would start televising a single

national game on Sunday afternoons. CBS also tried to reverse the NBA's

declining ratings with a variety of adjustments.

William Leggett reported in "Basketfuls of Information" in Sports

Illustrated that the network first hired a reporter named Sonny Hill to cover the

league on a full-time basis.28 CBS also put microphones and cameras on team

huddles to allow viewers to see and hear coaches at work.29 Leggett reported that

those attempts to present the game were for the most part unsuccessful, but it

proved that CBS was on the right track.30 Leggett also analyzed CBS' latest move

to improve its coverage, a halftime segment called "Red Auerbach on Roundball",

featuring the legendary Celtic coach. Auerbach's task, according to Leggett, was

to: 1) strive to educate CBS' viewers about the complexities of the pro game,

2) attempt to teach young players how to improve their games, 3) subtly introduce

audiences to an all-star team based on Red's criteria on facets of the game such as

49

screening and passing.31 Leggett went on to blame CBS' low ratings for the NBA

on its announcers, former greats Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson, whom he

called "less than brilliant".32

In 1977, the NBA mounted a short-lived comeback in the ratings

department. NBA telecasts on CBS went head-to-head with college basketball

telecasts on NBC. William Leggett, in "Bushels of Baskets on Sunday" in Sports

Illustrated, wrote that the early returns showed that CBS was winning the ratings

war.33 Leggett wrote that one of the reasons for the NBA's good showing was that

its recent contract with CBS was the most liberal ever between a network and

a major league.34 This was because CBS was able to regionalize its telecasts (up to

six games on Sundays), or run one national game if it felt the matchup warranted

national coverage.35 CBS also could stage doubleheaders and switch from a one-

sided game to a close one. Leggett speculated that all of those changes would

preclude the network showing any meaningless games that had been scheduled far

in advance.36

Ratings Decline

However, the ratings improvement did not last long, because just one year

later, NBA ratings had plummeted. Leggett reported that after the 1977 NBA

Finals between Philadelphia and Portland had achieved record NBA ratings, CBS

had seen a sharp decline in 1978.37 The results were seen in the 1978 NBA Finals,

when ratings declined 22 percent.38

Leggett also noted that certain observers predicted that if ratings did not

rise sharply in the next season, professional basketball could go the way hockey did

on NBC and the NBA may eventually have found itself without a lucrative

50

television contract.39 Leggett also cited as an example of NBA problems the fact

that the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, WAGA-TV, did not carry any NBA games and

hadn't for the previous five years.40 This occurred despite the fact the city had an

NBA franchise in the Atlanta Hawks.

Leggett also noted that in a Variety issue that listed the top 730 rated

shows from September 1, 1977 to August 31, 1978, sports took four of the first

five spots and six of the top nine. However, the deciding game of the NBA Finals

tied for 442nd with such forgettable shows as Peter Lundy & the Medicine Hat

Stallion, The Hostage Heart, and Country Night of the Stars.41 The next-highest

NBA prime-time playoff game was only 619th.42 The merger was supposed to

give the NBA new life by adding new stars and raising the quality of play.

However, as the 1970s drew to a close, the NBA was in desperate trouble

on television. By the late 1970s attendance for NBA games had plummeted, as

had the league's television ratings. Ratings for NBA telecasts were down 26

percent from the previous year.43 Things were so bad for CBS that the first

regular-season telecast was beaten soundly by everything the other networks had

to offer, such as boxing (ABC) and college basketball (NBC).44 Leggett and other

writers offered several reasons for the NBA's declining television fortunes.

Leggett first cited that in five of the nation's major television markets--New

York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston--the teams were either

"dull and faceless" or not contenders.45 He added that the sixth, Philadelphia, had a

troubled season and was eliminated before the playoffs ended.46 Critics posed that

one reason for the poor ratings was that there were weak teams in the major media

markets. This was especially damaging when those markets were already saturated

51

with local teams in high school and college basketball. The NBA tried to assist

CBS by allowing the network to choose any game it wanted to broadcast, but too

often it was small market teams like the Portland Trail Blazers that were in the

playoffs or won the championship.47

The argument was valid to an extent, because pro football had taken off

after the New York Jets won the Super Bowl. However, in the years since then,

the Jets and the New York Giants had struggled while the NFL remained popular.48

This occurred at the same time as the Knicks' fortunes had declined, and the NBA's

television fortunes declined with them. Leggett also cited criticism from observers

that there was a basic flaw in the structure of the game which allowed the casual

viewer to enjoy the essence of any NBA game by simply watching the game's final

two minutes.49 This was the same criticism the NBA had faced since the 1960s,

when Roone Arledge attempted to refute it in another

Sports Illustrated article. Benjamin Rader also cited this criticism in his book, In

Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports.

Leggett added that it seemed that there was too much basketball on

television. NBC aired Saturday college doubleheaders, and on Sundays CBS

carried NBA doubleheaders.50 Also, most independent stations aired both local

professional and college games.51 This resulted in CBS trying something new to

pull up its ratings. The first two games of the 1978 Conference Finals were aired

at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to test the waters.52 However, the problems

ran deeper than network competition and lack of interest in the large market teams.

The NBA was also suffering from image problems.

NBA Image Problems

52

The NBA's decline on television resulted in the rehashing of old questions

about the league's problems. Writers began calling for the league to shorten its

season, since televised games were being oversaturated with poor performances.

For example, Al Stump cited the poor play of the Los Angeles Lakers in a

nationally televised blowout loss to the Bucks during the 1972-73 season in an

article called, "Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?" Stump added that "within

today's 17-team, country-beating schedule, poor play is frequent."53 According to

Sam Goldaper, the players were also critical when it came to the league's

scheduling of televised games. One player, Bob Lanier, said that college games

aired on television were usually the best ones of the week. He also said that it was

"unfair and improper" to put a Sunday afternoon game on with tired players. This

was because of teams having to play a game on Saturday and then travel for an

afternoon game the following day. This resulted in a poor product.54 Stump's

solution, of course, was to call for the NBA to shorten its schedule.

Dave Kindred agreed that the NBA season was too long. He wrote that

with 82 regular season games, a single game was rendered meaningless in the

overall scheme of the season.55 Kindred also reasoned that if no one watched the

NBA during the regular season, why would they watch the playoffs.56 Like others

before him, Kindred felt that a 60-game season would make the games more

interesting and dramatic for viewers to watch. John Papanek also believed that the

season was too long, and that with so many teams, a team could play a different

team each night, greatly reducing the prospect of a rivalry. The times when a Wilt

Chamberlain would battle a Bill Russell 10 times a year were gone, so there was

53

very little drama left in the season.57 These were just some of the reasons critics

tried to come up with to explain the league's shortcomings on television.

There was also the belief that escalating player salaries and increased player

movement was adversely affecting the NBA on television. Melvin Durslag wrote

in a TV Guide article called, "Masters of the Fast Break", that several players were

moving constantly and thus fans were left having to identify with new players from

season to season. As an example, he cited that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had decided

he no longer wanted to play for Milwaukee in 1975, and he was traded to the

Lakers for four players.58 Durslag also noted that the owners were paying players

and coaches outrageous salaries that, when coupled with player gripes, served to

further alienate fans.59 This alienation was believed to have affected even TV

viewers.

It was confounding for Durslag to see that the league was in decline at a

time when the game was being played with more skill than ever before.60 Julius

Erving felt he had been promised a salary increase form Nets' owner Roy Boe, but

when Boe refused to pay Erving demanded to be traded. So Boe traded him to the

Philadelphia 76ers for the hefty price of $3 million for five years.61 This situation

was indicative of the theory that NBA players were too greedy. Despite the

problems, the NBA was able to re-sign with CBS in 1976 for two years and $21

million (see Appendix B).

Benjamin Rader wrote that among the problems the league had players

were so big and blessed with such offensive skills that scoring became too easy.62

When the NBA allowed for more physical contact to combat this, the league

54

suffered to find the right balance between finesse and physicality.63 There was also

criticism that race played a factor in the NBA's problems.

The NBA in 1978-79 was almost 75 percent black, and John Papanek

speculated that could be a reason for the league's poor showing on television.64

Rader made the same assessment in his book, In Its Own Image: How Television

Has Transformed Sports. Seattle player Paul Silas, also the president of the

Players' Association, argued that whites generally looked disfavorably on blacks

who were making large amounts of money if it appeared they were not working

hard to make that money.65 Golden State coach Al Attles said that many people

when describing the NBA style of play had called it "undisciplined", which led him

to believe the finger was being pointed at a specific group of people. Whatever the

reason, the NBA had a major image problem in the late 1970s, one that

Commissioner O'Brien sought to change by hiring an outside agency to handle the

NBA's public relations.

In 1979, Sam Goldaper wrote in The New York Times about the changes

players had requested in light of the NBA's declining attendance figures and

television ratings.66 Representatives of the league's 22 teams met and argued that

there was a need for better officiating and improved training of officials. Goldaper

reported that the President of the Players' Association said that instant replays on

television were showing the number of calls officials missed. He felt that this left

the fan with the feeling that the game was being totally dominated by the officials,

and the players wanted that concept to change.67

55

ABA

The ABA was enduring some difficult times of its own, and the upstart

league would not finish the decade. First, Jack Dolph, the former television

executive whom the league had hired to secure a network contract, resigned on Jun

3, 1972. Dolph said it was because of the impending merger between the two

leagues.68 The Times reported that Dolph had succeeded in lifting the league to

respectability.69 Leonard Koppett of The New York Times argued that the ABA

failed to land a network television deal because of its demographic problems.

Specifically, Koppett wrote that the ABA had only one of its teams--the New York

Nets--in a major media market.70 He contrasted this with the fact that major league

baseball, the NFL, and the NBA had all of their teams in the major markets.71

Koppett wrote that without the major markets, there was little to induce television

outlets in those markets to carry the games.72 In effect, Koppett said that if ABA

teams did not move into larger cities, than the league would die.73

Frank Deford cited the league's inability to establish teams in major cities as

a primary reason the ABA failed to secure a national television contract.74 The

ABA hired seven commissioners during its short history, all served with trying to

create a merger with the NBA or to obtain a national television contract.75 None of

the commissioners succeeded, except for the last one, Dave DeBusschere. Unable

to land a successful television contract, the ABA watched as two of its most

successful teams, New York and Denver, applied for membership in the NBA on

September 24, 1975.76 The remaining teams in the league applied for member ship

on October 21st of that year.77

56

Bob Wussler, president of CBS, renegotiated a new television contract with

the NBA that would give the league $21 million in the first two years and $22

million for the final two years.78 The network also offered the NBA an additional

$5 million as an incentive if up to four new franchises from the ABA were accepted

by the NBA.79 Wussler said that there were certain ABA teams that CBS would

have liked to see in the NBA.80 He cited in particular the Denver Nuggets with

David Thompson, and the New York Nets with Julius Erving.81 Wussler also said

that he felt the problem with the NBA ratings was that the "'superstars weren't super

enough and the super teams did not play up to expectations'".82 Wussler added that

he did not feel that the ABA was strong enough by itself to warrant a television

contract.83 Goldaper noted that regular-season ratings for the NBA were down 28

percent and between 10 and 15 percent for the playoffs.84

On June 18, 1976, NBA owners voted 17-1 to merge with the ABA.85 The

Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and San Antonio Spurs all joined

the league.86 The remaining teams were disbanded, with all of their players entering

the NBA's dispersal draft.87 Also, the incoming ABA teams were not allowed to

share in the network television deal for the next four years.88 However, when CBS

and the NBA renegotiated their contract for the 1978-79 season, the ABA teams

were allowed to share in it, despite the fact they would receive only $116,000 a year

for the first two years of a four-year, $74 million contract.89 In the final two years

of the contract, the four teams would share equally with the rest of the NBA.90 As

compensation for entering the same market as the Knicks, the New York Nets were

forced to pay the Knicks an additional $4 million.91

57

1. United Press International, "Cincinnati NBA Team Going to Kansas City," The ChicagoTribune, 15 Mar. 1972, Sect. 3, p. 6.

2. Bob Logan, "New Orleans gets N.B.A. Franchise," The Chicago Tribune 8 Mar. 1974,Sect. 3, p. 1.

3. Joseph Durso, "Overexpansion Continues to Haunt N.B.A. and N.H.L.," The New YorkTimes 13 July 1977, p. A15.

4. ibid, p. A15.

5. William Marsano, "Will It Be the Game of the 1970s?" TV Guide 4 April 1970, p. 14.

6. ibid, p. 15.

7. ibid, p. 15.

Conclusion

The 1970s was a decade of regression for the NBA's television fortunes.

The success of the Knicks pumped life into the league, and great things were

expected. But the battles with the ABA and the retirement of NBA stars and the

rapid expansion diluted the talent and the interest in the game. Then, when the two

leagues finally did merge, the league was faced with more teams and fewer

matchups between historic rivals for the season. There was also alienation of

television viewers due to the quality of play and the fact that fans were unable to

identify with the players. Finally, there was criticism of the way CBS handled NBA

telecasts, as well as the charge that the league was "too black" for White America to

embrace it. It all added up to poor ratings, so poor that in 1977-78 the decisive

championship game of the NBA was rated 442nd, while the World Series and the

Super Bowl took six of the top nine spots on prime time television.92 The NBA

would continue to flounder into the early 1980s, until new stars, and two old

championship rivals, would save the league again.

Notes

58

8. ibid, p. 15.

9. Walter Kennedy, "They'll Move To Athens . . . If They Ever Get Cleveland StraightenedOut," TV Guide 6 March 1971, p. 54.

10. ibid, p. 55.

11. John Carol, "TV Talk," Sports Illustrated 13 Mar. 1972, p. 9.

12. ibid, p. 9.

13. ibid, p. 9.

14. Frank Deford, "TV Talk," Sports Illustrated 24 May 1971, p. 16.

15. ibid, p. 16.

16. ibid, p. 16.

17. ibid, p. 16.

18. Dave Kindred, "Tube Boob Can't Cope With NBA; Subtleties Too Rich ForTV," The Washington Post 3 June 1979, p. G1.

19. "C.B.S., N.B.A. Agree; A.B.C. Doesn't," The New York Times, 9 Mar. 1973, p. 32.

20. Bert Randolph Sugar, The Thrill of Victory (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1978), 124.

21. William Leggett, "Slam Dunked By the Ratings," Sports Illustrated 16 Oct. 1978, p. 67.

22. Sam Goldaper, "N.B.A. Players Are Requesting Sweeping Changes," The New YorkTimes 8 Feb. 1979, p. D18, col. 3.

23. John Papanek, "There's An Ill Wind Blowing for the NBA," Sports Illustrated 26 Feb.1979, p. 21.

24. ibid, p. 27.

25. ibid, p. 27.

26. ibid, p. 27.

27. ibid, p. 27.

28. William Leggett, "Basketfuls of Information," Sports Illustrated 9 Feb, 1976, p. 48.

29. ibid, p. 48.

30. ibid, p. 48.

59

31. ibid, p. 48.

32. ibid, p. 48.

33. William Leggettt, "Bushels of Baskets on Sunday," Sports Illustrated 31 Jan. 1977, p. 37.

34. ibid, p. 37.

35. ibid, p. 37.

36. ibid, p. 37.

37. William Leggett, "Slam Dunked By the Ratings," Sports Illustrated 16 Oct. 1978, p. 67.

38. ibid, p. 67.

39. ibid, p. 67.

40. ibid, p. 67.

41. ibid, p. 67.

42. ibid, p. 67.

43. John Papanek, "There's An Ill Wind Blowing for the NBA," Sports Illustrated26 Feb. 1979, p. 20.

44. ibid, p. 20.

45. William Leggett, "Slam Dunked by the Ratings," Sports Illustrated 16 Oct. 1978, p. 67.

46. ibid, p. 67.

47. Benjamin G. Rader, In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: The Free Press, 1984), 148.


49. William Leggett, "Slam Dunked By the Ratings," Sports Illustrated 16 Oct. 1978, 67.

50. ibid, p. 67.

51. ibid, p. 67.

52. ibid, p. 67.

53. Al Stump, "Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?" TV Guide 21 April 1973, p. 25.

60

54. Sam Goldaper, "N.B.A. Players Are Requesting Sweeping Changes," The New YorkTimes 8 Feb. 1979, p. D18, col. 3.

55. Dave Kindred, "Tube Boob Can't Cope With NBA; Subtleties Too Rich for TV," TheWashington Post 3 June 1979, p. G1.

56. ibid, p. G1.


58. Melvin Durslag, "Masters of the Fast Break," TV Guide 27 March 1976, p. 21.

59. ibid, p. 21.

60. ibid, p. 21.

61. Pete Axthelm, "Why Pro Basketball is Sick," Newsweek 22 Nov. 1976, p. 87.

62. Benjamin G. Rader, In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: The Free Press, 1984), 148.

63. ibid, p. 148.


65. ibid, p. 22.

66. Sam Goldaper, "N.B.A. Players Are Requesting Sweeping Changes," The New YorkTimes 8 Feb. 1979, p. D15.

67. ibid, p. D18, column 3.

68. "Dolph, Head of A.B.A., To Step Down in Fall," The New York Times 3 June1972, p. 25.

69. ibid, p. 25.

70. Leonard Koppett, "A.B.A. Flunks its Demography Test," The New York Times 26 May1974, Section 5, p. 1.

71. ibid, p. 1.

72. ibid, p. 3, column 1.

73. ibid, p. 3, column 1.

74. Frank Deford, "One Last Hurrah in Hyannis," Sports Illustrated 28 June 1976, p. 64.

61

75. Sam Goldaper, "DeBusschere to Head A.B.A.," The New York Times 15 May 1975, p.S5.

76. The Associated Press, "ABA Teams Apply for NBA Switch," The Washington Post 21Oct. 1975, p. B1.

77. ibid, p. B1.

78. Sam Goldaper, "N.B.A. Gets Merger 'Spur'," The New York Times 25 May 1976, p. 30.

79. ibid, p. 30.

80. ibid, p. 30.

81. ibid, p. 30.

82. ibid, p. 30.

83. ibid, p. 30.

84. ibid, p. 30.

85. David DuPree, "NBA Owners Vote 17-1 to Merge With ABA," The Washington Post 18June 1976, p. D1.

86. ibid, p. D1.

87. ibid, p. D1.

88. ibid, p. D1.

89. Sam Goldaper, "Boe Gets Windfall From TV," The New York Times 5 May 1978, p. A19.

90. ibid, p. A20.

91. Frank Deford, "One Last Hurrah in Hyannis," Sports Illustrated 28 June 1976, p. 64.

92. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: Free Press, 1984), 147.

62

CHAPTER 5THE 1980s: A DECADE OF PROSPERITY

The 1970s were a disappointing decade for the NBA on television. Instead

of advancing, which the league felt it would after the Knicks championship in 1970,

the NBA suffered a setback on television. Despite the fact CBS had re-signed with

the NBA for the league's most lucrative television contract to date in 1978, and

despite the fact the ABA and NBA had finally merged, the league was still

struggling with its image problem. NBA regular season games were consistently

avoided by television viewers, and the playoffs, once the only games viewers

watched, were ignored as well.1 Even the NBA Finals felt the chill; the decade

ended with the Washington Bullets and Seattle Supersonics battling for a title on

tape-delay.2 The NBA did not reverse this trend until the mid-'80s, and it was due

to several factors that the NBA was able to right itself on television.

Bird and Magic

The reversal in NBA fortunes did not come instantly though, it was a

gradual process that started with the arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in

1979. Bird had been drafted in 1978 by the Celtics, and when he left Indiana State a

year later he signed with the legendary franchise that had recently fallen on hard

times.3 Johnson had completed his sophomore season at Michigan State when he

declared his intentions to enter the NBA draft. He was drafted first by the Lakers,

and Boston and Los Angeles became league powers again.

63

Bird and Johnson had proven their television potential in the 1979 NCAA

finals, when the two faced off for the championship. The result was the highest

rated championship game ever, despite the increased media hype in subsequent

years.4 The pair proved their worth in the NBA as well. Bird lifted the Celtics to a

61-21 record in 1979, a 32-game improvement over the previous season.5 His

contributions earned him Rookie-of-the Year honors for that season.6 Johnson did

not hit his stride until the playoffs, when, while subbing for an injured Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar at center, he scored 42 points, had 15 rebounds, and 7 assists as the

Lakers won the championship over Philadelphia.7 Johnson became the first rookie

ever to be named NBA Finals MVP, and the Bird-Johnson era had begun.

However, few noticed Johnson's performance until the following day,

because CBS had again decided that the game would be aired on tape-delay outside

of Philadelphia and Los Angeles. This caused much consternation for the NBA.

The league's regular-season ratings were not spectacular either. The NBA had a

regular-season rating of 6.4 during 1980, compared with an 8.2 average for college

games and 7.4 for The Superstars on NBC.8

The NBA Makes Changes

The problem with the television schedule was so great that the NBA and

CBS compromised before the 1981-82 season. For that year, the NBA would start

its season three weeks later than usual and CBS would guarantee to televise all of

the championship games live.9 The late season start meant the Finals would not

begin until June, when the May sweeps were over.10 Also, the NBA would avoid

competing head-to-head with the World Series by virtue of its later start.

64

The league was also intent on changing its image, and this involved changing

some of its more puzzling rules.11 Thomas Rogers in "N.B.A. Eliminates Bonus

Free Throws" in The New York Times, reported that the rule changes were made "in

an effort to speed up the game."12 Before the 81-82 season started, the NBA ruled

that a free-throw shooter could no longer take three free throw to make two, or two

to make one.13 Fouling in the backcourt wouldbe treated as a common foul, which

would encourage the college strategy of the full-court press.14 Bruce Newman

wrote in "The NBA Goes Back to School" in Sports Illustrated that this style of

basketball was seen as more enthusiastic and more fun to watch for the fans.15 The

NBA also instituted the "illegal defense" rule, which would prevent teams from

double-teaming a player before he received the ball. This rule change allowed

athletes like Dr. J and David Thompson more room to take their defender off the

dribble and create more crowd-pleasing moves.16

However, the old criticisms of what was wrong with the NBA were not

entirely eliminated. There remained the speculation that the season needed to be

shortened to 60 games to allow NBA teams to deliver the highest quality of

basketball to the public.17 In addition, with the playoffs starting later than ever, the

season would become interminable. As always in the NBA, new solutions did not

always answer all of the league's critics.

One way CBS sought to answer the interminable season criticism was to

greatly reduce the number of NBA regular-season telecasts. In 1982-83, CBS

reduced the number of regular-season telecasts from 18 the previous year to 4.18

CBS officials' reason for limiting the telecasts was also practical. Cable television

was carrying a large number of regular-season games, and CBS executives felt the

65

public was being oversaturated with telecasts. The 1979-80 season had seen the

league sign its first deal with a cable network, USA, for 3 years and $1.5 million

(see Appendix B). In 1982-83, USA shared those rights with ESPN for $11 million

over two years.

The biggest reason CBS had for limiting the number of telecasts was the

ratings. In 1976, CBS regular-season ratings were an abysmal 26 percent share on

Sunday afternoons, by 1980 that number had fallen to 18 percent.19 Despite the

poor ratings, CBS again re-signed with the NBA to a four-year, $88 million

contract (see Appendix B).

While the NBA was still struggling with its ratings, there was talk amongst

NBA executives that the situation was improving. USA and ESPN televised 40

games during the season, and the NBA also had its many connections to local cable

systems.20 Also, CBS would televise as many playoff games as it had in years past,

with a maximum of 23.21 In addition, the NHL had lost its network contract in

1976, and by 1983 it still had not landed a new one.22 The NBA had at least

maintained a relationship with television.

The Resurgence of the NBA

By the time the 1983-84 season had arrived, the NBA was beginning to gain

in popularity. The NBA was the only major sports league, the NFL included, that

had gained in its TV audience, up 12 percent for the 1981-83 period.23 CBS'

strategy of limiting the number of regular-season telecasts had paid off. Only seven

games were telecast for the 1983-84 season, and there were 16 games telecast in the

playoffs.24 In addition, there were 10 playoff telecasts on USA and another 10 on

ESPN.25 The NBA also benefitted from the labor strife that had impacted the NFL

66

and baseball. In 1981 a baseball strike wiped out half of the regular season, and in

1982 a strike limited the NFL regular season to just seven games.26 The

NBA was filling the void, just as it had when the point-shaving scandals in college

basketball during the early fifties had first launched the league into prominence.

Another reason for the NBA's resurgence was its superstars. By 1983,

Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were joined by Larry Bird and Magic

Johnson as bona fide superstars. They were also different kinds of superstars that

appealed to different viewers. Johnson personified a person having fun with his job

and Bird represented work ethic.27 Dr. J was the symbol of grace and dignity as

well as the ambassador of basketball, and Abdul-Jabbar was quiet consistence and

excellence.28 This divergence of personalities brought the NBA into a golden age of

prosperity, and the results were seen at the conclusion of the 1983-84 season.

Ever since Bird and Johnson's arrival in 1979, the Celtics and Lakers had

become the two best teams in basketball (with the exception of Dr. J and the

Philadelphia 76ers). Since that season, the Lakers and Celtics had won every

championship except one (again, the 76ers, in 1982-83). Yet the two teams had

never met in the Finals during that period. That would change in 1984. That year,

the Celtics and Lakers finally met for the championship, and the result was one of

the most dramatic Finals ever played. The series went all seven games, and the

seventh game attracted the largest television audience ever for an NBA game.29

This series, and the two future meetings between the Celtics and the Lakers in the

Finals would be pivotal in stimulating the NBA's popularity explosion. In 1987, the

Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals would produce the highest ratings in NBA history, not

to be eclipsed until the Jordan era in the 1990s.30

67

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the NBA became the fastest-growing and most

financially successful league in team sports.31 The league's negative image was

forgotten, as the NBA produced more stars than the NFL or baseball did. Johnson

and Bird emerged as the two best-known athletes in the nation, and in the 1990s

Michael Jordan would eclipse them both and replace Muhammad Ali as the best-

known athlete in the world.32

David Stern

NBA marketing was critical in forming the foundation for the league's

success, but the credit also largely went to another man. That man was new

Commissioner David Stern. David Stern was a successful 41-year old attorney who

had been Commissioner Larry O'Brien's second-in-command and had joined

the NBA as league counsel in 1978.33 Stern's first order of business was to institute

a salary cap that would allowed players and owners to share in the league's

television and attendance revenue.34 This allowed the owners and players to get

richer, and it prevented the rich teams from spending more for players than the poor

ones did.35 The NBA also confronted the allegations of league-wide drug abuse by

drafting one of the most comprehensive drug policies in sports.36 Stern also

oversaw a tremendous expansion in the marketing of NBA players, a strategy that

would make the league's biggest stars the most popular athletes by the end of the

decade.37 Almost as importantly, Stern solved the NBA's television dilemma of

maximizing ratings by limiting the number of broadcasts.

With the proliferation of cable channels in the early 1980s and the presence

of satellite-fed "superstations" like WGN in Chicago and WTBS in Atlanta, the

NBA was faced with an oversaturation of its product.38 In 1983-84 alone, 170

68

games were broadcast nationally, including CBS' modest 10-game regular-season

schedule.39 The result was that CBS' telecasts were weakened by the fact that there

was a game on television almost every night.40 Stern knew that this impaired the

league's ability to sell the right to broadcast the games nationally, so he reduced the

league schedule on cable to only 55 games starting in the 1984-85 season.41

The rights to telecast these games were sold to WTBS for $20 million over

two years. In addition, the superstation would also be allowed to televise 20 early-

round games of the playoffs.42 This reduction, more than any other reason,

explained why the NBA's network ratings had improved over the five years previous

to 1985-86.43 This was a claim that no other sports league--professional or

amateur--could make.

CBS took note of the improved ratings, and before the 1986-87 season the

network negotiated with the NBA to a 4-year, $173 million contract, the largest in

league history. CBS executive Ted Shaker commented on how far the NBA had

come on television, when he was asked about whether the network wanted to resign

with the NBA for the '86-'87 season: "'Are you kidding? Absolutely.'"44 That

comment showed how far the league had come since the early part of the decade.

In 1980, the league was floundering on television. The regular-season games were

being hammered in the ratings, and the Finals were reduced to being shown on tape-

delay. In 1985, the league signed its most lucrative contract for television, and its

revenues had increased during that same span from $108 million to $192 million.45

The Superstars

Another reason for the league's improved standing on television was the

influx of a new generation of stars that, when complemented with Bird, Johnson,

69

Dr. J, and Abdul-Jabbar, thrust the league into a golden age of prosperity. During

the first few years of the 1980s, players like Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, and

Clyde Drexler entered the NBA, and they lifted formerly poor teams in Detroit,

Atlanta, and Portland to respectability. But the league's biggest star arrived in

1984, Michael Jordan.

Jordan was an All-American 6-6 guard from North Carolina. He had won

an NCAA Championship in college as well as the Player of the Year award twice.46

In 1984, he led the United States Olympic team to the gold medal in Spain.47 That

same year, he was part of a draft class that included Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles

Barkley, two other future NBA legends.

Jordan was drafted in the first round by the Chicago Bulls, another weak

team in a large media market. The early reviews of Jordan were good. Jane Gross

wrote that "Jordan's high-wire act. . . drew howls at Madison Square Garden and

has drawn crowds at practice sessions."48 Bob Sakamoto of the Chicago Tribune

added, "His (Jordan's) presence accounted for the Bulls nearly doubling their

attendance from the previous year."49 Jordan drew comparisons to Julius Erving

and Magic Johnson during his first season, which proved that writers were aware of

his talent from the beginning. He won Rookie of the Year honors in his first season

and created a sensation with his athletic feats.50 In his second season he dazzled

Boston Garden with a playoff-record 63 points in a playoff game against the

Celtics.51 Jordan led the league in scoring during every season in the 1980s except

one, the 1985-86 season when he was injured.52 He won the league's MVP award

and Defensive Player of the Year award in 1987-88.53 He became the league's most

70

dominant player by the end of the decade, but in the 1990s Jordan would literally

come to personify the NBA.

In the 1980s, he was just another of the superstars that the NBA had been

very successful in marketing to the public. The following year, the league received

an added boost when a new superstar was drafted by the Knicks. The New York

Knicks won the right to draft Georgetown center Patrick Ewing in the 1985 NBA

lottery. Ewing, a 7-0 center who had received more hype than any center since

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entered the league, had an immediate impact on reviving

basketball in New York.54 According to Sam Goldaper, Ewing was expected to

generate millions of dollars in additional box office, television, and radio revenues

for the Knicks and the NBA.55 The Knicks experienced a 66 percent ticket increase

from the previous year after news came that Ewing had been drafted.56 Like the

Knicks' championship team 15 years earlier, Ewing brought instant attention to

basketball in New York and the Knicks franchise.57 His arrival, coupled with

Jordan's and Johnson's presence in the NBA, gave the league three star players in

three of the largest media markets.

The addition of star talent and star personalities made the NBA very

profitable, and as a result the league expanded three times during the decade. The

Dallas Mavericks entered the league in 1980-81,58 followed by the Miami Heat and

the Charlotte Hornets in 1988-89.59 The Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando

Magic would enter the league just one year later, bringing the total number of teams

to 27.60 The league was prospering, and that was reflected in the status of the

NBA's network contract.

71

In 1986-87, the NBA and TBS agreed to a 2-year, $25 million contract.

When that contract expired, the NBA agreed with TBS and TNT to another 2-year

deal, this time worth $50 million. By the late 1980s, CBS was telecasting 15-16

regular season games each year. The ratings were holding steady, while the ratings

for TBS and TNT rose from 6.6 percent in 1985-86 to 7.3 percent in 1989-90 (see

Appendix B). By the end of the decade, there were more than 700 regular season

games broadcast by local stations--an increase of nearly 35 percent from 1985-86,

reflected partly through the league's expansions.61 Cable telecasts also rose 39

percent during that same period, thanks to the launch of new regional and cable

sports networks.62 The decade closed with the NBA signing with NBC for $600

million over four years, the most lucrative contract in NBA history.63 In just one

decade, the league's television fortunes had come full-circle.

Conclusion

The 1980s was a decade of tremendous change for the NBA on television.

The influx of new stars such as Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson

gave the league a new image and new players to market. The arrival of David Stern

as commissioner in 1983 saw changes in the way the league dealt withtelevision.

The number of national telecasts was limited to give the NBA good standing with

the networks. Television contracts exploded from roughly $18.5 million a year to

$150 million a year by the end of the decade. Stern's marketing strategies increased

the league's revenue and created superstars out of Bird, Jordan, Johnson, and

others. The league had reached new heights in popularity, the only question was

whether those heights could be sustained as the 1990s began.

72

1. "Basketball Comeback," The New York Times 28 Dec. 1981, p. C2.

2. Dave Kindred, "Tube Boob Can't Cope With NBA; Subtleties Too Rich for TV," TheWashington Post 3 June 1979, p. G1.

3. The Associated Press, "'Hick' Bird A Rich Celt," The Washington Post 9 June 1979, p. D1.

4. Bob Ryan, "The Two and Only," Sports Illustrated 14 Dec. 1992, p. 49.


6. Jack McCallum, "Larry Bird and Magic Johnson," Sports Illustrated 19 Sept. 1994, p. 67.

7. Ken Denlinger, "Johnson's 42 Gives Lakers NBA Title," The Washington Post 17 May1980, p. D1.

8. Bruce Newman, "The NBA Goes Back To School," Sports Illustrated 9 Nov. 1981, p. 41.

9. ibid, p. 41.

10. ibid, p. 41.

11. ibid, p. 42.

12. Thomas Rogers, "N.B.A. Eliminates Bonus Free Throws," The New York Times 31 July1981, p. A14.

13. Bruce Newman, "The NBA Goes Back to School," Sports Illustrated 9 Nov. 1981, p. 42.

14. ibid, p. 42.

15. ibid, p. 47.

16. ibid, p. 47.

17. ibid, p. 47.

18. Jack Craig, "A TV Bone in the NBA's Throat," The Sporting News 24 Jan. 1983, p. 17.

19. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: Free Press, 1984), 147.


21. ibid, p. 17.

22. ibid, p. 17.

Notes

73

23. Jack Craig, "Look Who's Gaining on TV--the NBA" The Sporting News, 23April 1984, p. 9.

24. ibid, p. 9.

25. ibid, p. 9.

26. ibid, p. 9.

27. ibid, p. 9.

28. ibid, p. 9.

29. ibid, p. 9.

30. "Top Rate," The New York Times 19 June 1987, p. D23.

31. Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age ofTelevised Sports (Upper Saddle Bridge, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 258.

32. ibid, p. 258.

33. "NBA Moving Ahead," The Sporting News 19 Dec. 1983, p. 6.

34. Scott Howard-Cooper, "A 10-Year-Old System That Revolutionized Sports," LosAngeles Times 21 Aug. 1994, Part C, p. 9.

35. Brenton Welling, Jonathan Tasini, & Dan Cook, "Basketball: Business Is Booming,"Business Week 28 Oct. 1985, p. 78.

36. Jeffrey Meitrodt, "NBA's Popularity Concerns Owners," The Times-Picayune 24 Jan.1997, p. S58.

37. ibid, p. S58.

38. Brenton Welling, Jonathan Tasini, & Dan Cook, "Basketball: Business Is Booming,"Business Week 28 Oct. 1985, p. 74.

39. ibid, p. 82.

40. ibid, p. 82.

41. ibid, p. 82.

42. ibid, p. 82.

43. ibid, p. 82.

44. ibid, p. 82.

74

45. ibid, p. 74.

46. Bob Sakamoto, "In the End, Jordan's No. 1," The Chicago Tribune 17 May 1985, Section4, p. 1.

47. ibid, p. 1.

48. Jane Gross, "Jordan Makes People Wonder: Is He the New Dr. J?" The New York Times21 Oct. 1984, Section 5, p. 9.

49. Bob Sakamoto, "In the End, Jordan's No. 1," The Chicago Tribune 17 May 1985, Section4, p. 1.

50. ibid, p. 1.

51. Sam Goldaper, "Jordan Scores 63 in Loss," The New York Times 21 April 1986, p. C1.



54. Brenton Welling, Jonathan Tasini, & Dan Cook, "Basketball: Business is Booming,"Business Week 28 Oct. 1985, p. 73.

55. Sam Goldaper, "All Eyes on Lottery For Ewing," The New York Times 6 May 1985, p.C1.

56. Brenton Welling, Jonathan Tasinin, & Dan Cook, "Basketball: Business Is Booming,"Business Week 28 Oct. 1985, p. 73.

57. ibid, p. 73.

58. David DuPree, "League Approves Dallas Entry," The Washington Post 3 Feb. 1980, p.D1.

59. Anthony Cotton, "NBA Accepts Miami, Charlotte, Orlando, Twin Cities," TheWashington Post 23 April 1987, p. B1.

60. ibid, p. B1.

61. Bortz & Company, Inc., Sports on Television: A New Game For Broadcasters (Denver:National Association of Broadcasters, 1990), 6.

62. ibid, p. 6.

63. John Steinbreder, "The Ball's in a New Court," Sports Illustrated 20 Nov. 1989, p. 175.

75

CHAPTER 6

ON THE COATTAILS OF MICHAEL JORDAN

The 1980s saw an unprecedented popularity explosion for the NBA. The

heights NBA founders had hoped to reach when the league was born in 1946 had

finally been attained in the 1980s. Now, the only question was how to sustain that

popularity. As the decade began, NBC had signed the NBA away from CBS for

$750 million over four years.

The NBA lost Erving and Abdul-Jabbar when the '80s ended, and Magic

Johnson and Larry Bird, the two most credited with bringing the NBA its success,

were nearing the ends of their historic careers. The Lakers were no longer world

champions, having been dethroned by the Pistons in 1989. The Celtics had not been

to the Finals since 1987, and they would not return during Bird's final years. But

the league still had Michael Jordan, who was entering his decade of dominance. He

would lift the league to even greater heights in both popularity and on television.

The 1990s would become Jordan's decade.

Jordan Reaches the Pinnacle

Each year since Michael Jordan's arrival in the NBA in 1984, the Chicago

Bulls had been building steadily for a championship. Each season the team went

deeper into the playoffs, and by the time the 1980s ended, Chicago was left with

only one opponent between them and the Finals--the Detroit Pistons, the two-time

world champions in 1988-89 and 1989-90. The Pistons were known as "The Bad

Boys," and they eliminated Jordan's Bulls from the playoffs for three straight years.1

76

But in 1990-91, Chicago finally defeated them to enter the NBA Finals for the first

time.2 And now, the NBA's biggest star had the league's biggest stage to

make his impact on television. Nearly a decade later, Jordan would leave his mark

on NBA--and television--history.

Ironically enough, Jordan would have to win his championship against the

"Team of the 80s," and the "Player of the 80s" as well, the Lakers and Magic

Johnson. NBC could not have asked for a better championship series to televise in

its first season, and the 1991 NBA Finals became a media circus as national

attention was showered on the two marquee players. Jack McCallum noted this in

"Show of Shows: For Star Quality, the Magic and Michael Made-For-TV miniseries

tops all NBA Finals" when he wrote, "the NBA has never seen anything like this."3

Michael Wilbon added in "It Doesn't Get Any Better," that, "these NBA Finals will

be the most widely and most passionately watched basketball championship series

ever."4

The series proved to be a changing of the guard in two respects. First,

Jordan won his first-ever championship after Magic had won five during the '80s.

Secondly, Jordan assumed the position of leading the NBA in the ratings wars.

Johnson and Bird had battled in three NBA Finals that had garnered the highest

ratings ever the previous decade, and in the '90s it was Jordan's turn.

Jordan Retires

Jordan led the Bulls to three straight championships in the 1990s, and the

1993 NBA Finals surpassed the 1987 Lakers-Celtics matchup as the highest-rated

NBA Finals ever.5 Then, seemingly without warning, Jordan retired following the

Bulls' third-straight championship, leaving the NBA--and television--with a huge

77

void. Jordan had led the Bulls in NBC's top four-rated games of the 1992-93

season, and his loss left many to ponder who would take his place.6 With Bird

having retired at the end of 1992, and Magic's unexpected retirement due to AIDS

in 1991, in just three seasons the league had lost its three most popular stars.

In a New York Times article, "Television Loses Star of the Ratings Game,"

Richard Sandomir commented on NBC and TNT's position. Sandomir wrote,

"NBC and TNT relied on Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to swell their ratings,

scheduling as many Bulls games as their NBA contracts would allow."7 Sandomir

cited that it was partly due to Jordan's presence that the networks signed new four-

year deals that required them to pay 25 percent more than previously. Sandomir

also remarked that not only was Jordan a great player, but he played in the nation's

third-largest market. During his career, Jordan provided TNT and with ratings 17

percent higher than the season average for telecasts.8

According to Sandomir, NBC overreacted to the loss of its NBA star by

first televising 30 minutes of Jordan's press conference and then by dispatching Tom

Brokaw of "NBC Nightly News" to interview Jordan that same night.9 Leonard

Shapiro also noted NBC's coverage of Jordan's retirement in "Wave Bye to CBS;

Hold Off on Jordan" in The Washington Post.10 Coverage of Jordan led off the

telecast, followed by a few minutes for a report on the situation in Somalia.11

Sandomir thought NBC's reaction was a bit extreme, perhaps because the network

knew what a product it was losing in Jordan.

New Stars Fill the Void

Jordan might have been gone, but the NBA had already been grooming new

players to fill the void. The player most felt would take Jordan's place as the

78

league's new ratings star was Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-2 center from the Orlando

Magic.12 However, there were still stars from the 1980s that could help attract

attention. Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz, Jordan's fellow class of

'84 alumnus Charles Barkley, and Knick center Patrick Ewing were some of the

stars who were still playing from the 1980s.13 With Jordan gone, one of these

players would have a chance at the title that the Bulls had owned in the '90s.14

And with a championship would come the recognition that Jordan and the Bulls had

received for so many years. However, it would not be one of these players

that would win the title. Instead, it would be another of Jordan's class of '84 alumni,

Hakeem Olajuwon.

Olajuwon was a 6-10 center from the University of Houston. Drafted first

overall in 1984 (ahead of Jordan), Olajuwon had already led his Houston Rockets to

the NBA Finals in 1986, where they lost to Boston.15 In 1994, he led the Rockets

to a championship series matchup with his old rival, Patrick Ewing and the New

York Knicks.16

However, a series that was supposed to be a coronation for one of the

league's best players and a showcase for two of the nation's two biggest markets

came off poorly. John Dempsey wrote in "The NBA's Image Dribbles Away" in

Variety that part of the reason for the low ratings was the "series' grindingly

unattractive defensive basketball, which turns off the casual viewer."17 Michael

Wilbon of The Washington Post noted that, "There is no more brilliance in the

NBA, not based on what we've seen in these Finals."18 The result was that the

Knicks-Rockets Finals series garnered only a 12.3 rating, down 30 percent from the

Bulls-Suns series of the previous year.19 Part of the reason was the style of play,

79

another reason, in Game 5 anyway, was the famous chase of O.J. Simpson, which

NBC cut away from the game to follow. The result was a 7.8 rating, the most

abysmal rating for an Game Five since the 1981 Finals, which were shown on tape-

delay.20

The disappointing ratings for the 1994 NBA Finals lent credence to the

belief that the league would suffer without Jordan. There were other problems the

league was facing, including the prospect of a player's strike in 1995, and the recent

retirements of Bird, Johnson, and Jordan.21 All of this amounted to

diminished ratings for the NBA. There was still optimism because David Stern,

who had organized the league during its most prosperous era, was still the

commissioner.22 Also, there was the possibility that the NBA's young stars would

develop into media personalities the equivalent of Bird, Johnson, and Jordan.23 But

the NBA would not have to wait, because Jordan would return from his baseball

sabbatical in the latter stages of the 1994-95 season.

Jordan Returns

On March 19, 1995, Jordan made his return for an NBC game against the

Indiana Pacers, ending his 21-month "retirement." As expected, NBC neatly

accommodated Jordan's return. The network enlarged the scope of the telecast

from the original 53 percent to 98 percent of the country, sending the Utah-

Charlotte game only to the team's home markets.24 Ahmad Rashad, Jordan's friend,

was sent to follow his every move on the sidelines. Bob Costas was sent to

Indianapolis to host the nearly 25-minute pregame show which featured replays of

some of Jordan's greatest moments.25

80

Jordan's impact was immediate. Both NBC and CBS announced Jordan's

return in news bulletins and "special reports."26 NBC promotions people also

developed a 10-second spot that aired during all of the network's entertainment

shows on Saturday night and on Sunday morning's "today" and "Meet the Press."27

His return game against the Pacers, televised at noon on Saturday (the worst time

slot for an NBA game ratings-wise), pulled in a rating of 13.4, the highest rating of

the 94-95 season.28

This was in comparison to the average rating of 2.2 NBC had achieved in

that spot due to competition with college basketball on CBS.29 NBC and TNT

immediately engaged in a bidding war to televise a Friday-night game later that

week between the Bulls and the Magic, with TNT winning out and sharing the

broadcast with WGN-TV, the Bulls local station in Chicago.30 However, the

league's excitement over Jordan's return was dissipated when the Bulls were

eliminated early in the playoffs by the Orlando Magic.

Despite the fact the Bulls did not win a championship, Jordan's return had a

huge impact on the ratings over the short period he had played. The playoffs on

NBC were up 13 percent to a 7.0 rating from 1994's 6.2.31 This marked the

highest cumulative playoff average for the NBA in 18 years.32 TNT's ratings

skyrocketed 30 percent upward from 1994, and games on TNT from May 8-14

pulled in the highest seven ratings for cable, including an NBA-record 7.9 for a

Bulls-Magic game on May 10.33 According to Thomas Walsh in "Can Playoff

Hoops Fly Without Air" in Variety, NBC tried to explain away the meteoric rise

since Jordan's return, but it was clear that his presence had a tremendous effect on

the league's television ratings.34

81

The next season, Jordan cemented his television supremacy, as the Bulls

romped through a record-setting 72-win season and won their fourth championship

of the '90s.35 Sandomir examined Jordan's ratings impact on the 1995-96 season.

Five NBC Bulls games averaged a 6.6 rating, while the 11 non-Bulls games

averaged a 4.6 rating.36 This marked a 43.6-percent increase from non-Bulls games

to Bulls games.37

Cable also experienced the windfall from Jordan's television appearances. In

1995, nine Bulls telecasts on TNT pulled in a 3.7 rating; the remaining 30 games

averaged only a 1.7 rating.38 Thus, TNT games featuring Jordan generated a 117

percent increase in ratings over non-Bulls games.39 TBS's five Bulls games netted a

2.9 rating; the 15 non-Bulls games pulled in only a 1.7 rating.40 This indicated a

70.5 percent increase in ratings for Bulls games.41 But these were not the only

statistics Sandomir used to measure Jordan's impact on the NBA.

Sandomir noted that even though TNT and TBS were obliged to show all

teams, which would lead to some unattractive matchups and consequently poor

ratings, Jordan's impact was still great.42 Before Jordan's retirement, Bulls games in

TNT-TBS rated about 10 percent higher than the next-highest team.43 In 1995-96,

ratings for Bulls games were 41 percent higher than those of the next highest team,

the Orlando Magic.44

Five of the seven highest-rated games in 1995-96 starred the Bulls, and the

highest-rated non-Bulls matchup, San Antonio against Orlando, rated 21 percent

lower than a Bulls-Suns game on Super Sunday that was the highest-rated game of

the season.45 The result was that the networks sought to televise as many Bulls

games as possible under the NBA contract. The potential problem was that the rest

82

of the league would be neglected and would not be promoted enough to help the

NBA maintain its popularity after Jordan's retirement.46 As the 1997-98 season

approached, the networks and NBC in particular would play up the angle of

Jordan's retirement and in return would get great ratings again.

The NBA Again Faces Life After Jordan

Before the 1997-98 season started, there was speculation it would be

Jordan's last.47 The Bulls had re-signed head coach Phil Jackson for only one more

season, and they made it clear that he would not return for another one.48 Jordan

announced that he would not play for another coach, which made most observers

believe it would be his last year in the NBA.49 With Jordan's retirement imminent,

NBC sought to exploit the angle that every playoff series could be Jordan's last.50

This was the theme throughout the final two playoff series for the Bulls in 1997-98,

against Indiana and Utah. NBC experienced the power of public interest in Jordan's

last game when the Bulls were unexpectedly pushed to a seventh game in the

Eastern Conference Finals by the Indiana Pacers.

With the Bulls' season and Jordan's career hinging on one game, NBC went

all out in its efforts to deliver the product. There was a half-hour pregame show

that documented the drama of the series, and after the Bulls won 88-83, the impact

of the public's interest in Jordan came through in the ratings.51 The game resulted in

a 19.1 rating, the seventh-highest NBA game of all-time and nearly 3 points higher

than any non-Finals telecast in history.52

In the NBA Finals against Utah, the Bulls continued to snare record-ratings.

If not for the fact that the series lacked drama after the second game, it was believed

that the Finals would have shattered all of the records.53 Still, each game of the

83

1. Jack McCallum, "Watch out World," Sports Illustrated 3 June 1991, p. 26.

2. ibid, p. 26.

3. Jack McCallum, "Show of Shows: For Star Quality, the Magic and Michael Made-For-TVMiniseries tops all NBA Finals," Sports Illustrated 10 June 1991, p. 20.

4. Michael Wilbon, "It Doesn't Get Any Better," The Washington Post 1 June 1991, p. G1.

5. Richard Sandomir, "Television Loses Star of the Ratings Game," The New York Times 7Oct. 1993, p. B20.

Chicago-Utah series rated first or second all-time in Finals history in ratings.

Jordan's impact on the NBA Finals during the 1990s was also evident. The first five

NBA Finals that included the Bulls averaged a primetime rating of 16.3, 31 percent

better than the three Finals without Chicago.54 Also, of the 15 highest-rated NBA

telecasts ever, Chicago was featured in 11.55 Jordan's decade of dominance was

secure.

Conclusion

As the 1990s come to a close, there again is speculation on whether the

league can survive on television without Jordan. The two years in which his Bulls

did not appear in the Finals in the mid-90s experienced a severe ratings drop from

the Finals the Bulls participated in.56 Jordan's impact was felt in delivering the two

highest-rated Finals in NBA history, as well as the highest-ever non-Finals game in

history.57 His Bulls have been part of 11 of the top 15 most-watched games in NBA

history, and Jordan's return from retirement generated the highest regular-season

ratings for the NBA in years. However, the question remains ofhow to replace a

player with Jordan's mass appeal. NBA officials hope the new wave of superstars

can appeal to fans the same way Jordan did.58

Notes

84

6. ibid, p. B20.

7. ibid, p. B20.

8. Steve Nidetz, "TV Digs in for life after Jordan," The Chicago Tribune 7 Oct. 1993,Section 4, p. 11.

9. Richard Sandomir, "NBC Goes Bonkers Over Jordan," The New York Times 8 Oct. 1993,p. B14.

10. Leonard Shapiro, "Wave Bye to CBS; Hold Off on Jordan," The Washington Post 8 Oct.1993, p. C2.

11. Richard Sandomir, "NBC Goes Bonkers Over Jordan," The New York Times 8 Oct. 1993,p. B14.

12. John Ed Bradley, "Sugar Shaq," Sports Illustrated 25 April 1994, p. 55.

13. Phil Taylor, "Together Again," Sports Illustrated 13 June 1994, p. 27.


15. Phil Taylor, "Together Again," Sports Illustrated 13 June 1994, p. 27.

16. ibid, p. 27.

17. John Dempsey, "NBA's Image Dribbles Away," Variety 27 June 1994, p. 27.

18. Michael Wilbon, "Finals a Little Light on Brilliance," The Washington Post 16 June 1994,p. B1.

19. John Dempsey, "NBA's Image Dribbles Away," Variety 27 June 1994, p. 28.

20. ibid, p. 28.

21. ibid, p. 27.

22. ibid, p. 27.

23. ibid, p. 28.

24. Richard Sandomir, "NBC Hopes Comeback Pumps Air into Ratings," The New YorkTimes 20 March 1995, p. C4.

25. ibid, p. C4.

26. Steve Nidetz, "NBC Glad to Accept Jordan Ratings Windfall," The Chicago Tribune 19March 1995, Section 3, p. 12.

85

27. ibid, p. 12.

28. Richard Sandomir, "NBC's Ratings Soar Higher than Jordan," The New York Times 21March 1995, p. B13.

29. ibid, p. B13.

30. ibid, p. B13.

31. Thomas Walsh, "Can Hoop Playoffs Fly Without Air," Variety 22 May 1995, p. 37.

32. Steve Nidetz, "ESPN Show Mixes Sports, Religion," The Chicago Tribune 19 May 1995,Section 4, p. 5.

33. Thomas Walsh, "Can Hoop Playoffs Fly Without Air," Variety 22 May 1995, p. 39.

34. ibid, p. 39.


36. Richard Sandomir, "Ratings Dunk: Jordan Plays and People Watch," The New York Times22 March 1996, p. B15.

37. ibid, p. B15.

38. ibid, p. B15.

39. ibid, p. B15.

40. ibid, p. B15.

41. ibid, p. B15.

42. ibid, p. B15.

43. ibid, p. B15.

44. ibid, p. B15.

45. ibid, p. B15.

46. ibid, p. B15.

47. Phil Taylor, "Hang in There," Sports Illustrated 16 Feb. 1998, p. 36.

48. ibid, p. 37.

49. ibid, p. 37.

86

50. Tom Bierbaum, "Peacock Sells Jordan Farewell" Variety 15 June 1998: p. 26.

51. Rob Longley, "NBC Excels in Airing Jordan," The Toronto Sun 1 June 1998, p. 9.

52. Tom Bierbaum, "Peacock Sells Jordan Farewell," Variety 15 June 1998, p. 26.

53. ibid, p. 26.

54. ibid, p. 26.

55. ibid, p. 26.

56. ibid, p. 26.

57. ibid, p. 26.

58. John Dempsey, "The NBA's Image Dribbles Away," Variety 27 June 1994, p. 28.

87

CHAPTER 7KEY GAMES IN TELEVISION HISTORY

Throughout the NBA's checkered history on television, there have been

several games that marked significant moments in the league's television history.

Five of the most important games in television history have been highlighted for

their contributions to or detractions from the NBA's image. The criteria used for

selecting these games were as follows: They had to be landmark games, or firsts in

television history, they had to make an impact on the NBA's television fortunes,

whether positively or negatively. There were some significant games that were

eliminated using these criteria, and some games that were important were lost with

the passage of time.

For instance, the first televised game in league history and the first playoff

game in television history were never found, so they were eliminated from

contention. The Russell-Chamberlain confrontations of the early 1960s and the

Celtics-Lakers Finals from the '60s were eliminated because they did not

significantly impact the NBA's television history. Despite the Russell-Chamberlain

matchups in the early '60s, NBC dropped the NBA from its television lineup in

1962. The Celtics-Lakers Finals in the '60s were great in a historical context, but

they did little to broaden basketball's appeal to television audiences. It was not

until the Knicks won the championship in 1970 that the NBA finally had "arrived."

That said, the key games that were selected according to the criteria listed are as

follows: the 1954 Knicks-Celtics game that NBC was forced to cut away from,

88

Game One of the 1956 NBA Finals between the Philadelphia Warriors and the Fort

Wayne Pistons, Game Seven of the 1970 NBA Finals between the Knicks and the

Lakers, Game Seven of the 1984 NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers,

and Game One of the 1991 NBA Finals between the Bulls and the Lakers. What

follows is a description of each of the games and their significance in the NBA's

television history.

Game One: Eastern Division Playoffs: March 16, 1954

Boston Celtics 93

New York Knicks 71

In the last year before the NBA 24-second shot clock was implemented, this

game stands out because of its effect on NBC. The Celtics and Knicks met in Game

One of the Eastern Division Playoffs in Madison Square Garden. NBC executives

had decided to give the NBA a national showcase for the game. But a great

opportunity for the league was squandered when both teams committed 95 fouls in

what was called "one of the worst basketball games ever played".1 The Celtics won,

but not many people knew the outcome because the network cut away from the

game in disgust.2 The New York Times made no mention of the impact the game

had on television, but but the game did highlight the NBA's problems with the

excessive fouling and stalling game that personified the league in the early 1950s.3

These problems necessitated the adoption of the 24-second clock, and the old

problems were soon eliminated.4 This game may have been a setback in the NBA's

television history, but it helped to force the league to make drastic changes to adapt

to the new medium.

89

Game One: NBA Finals: March 31, 1956

Philadelphia Warriors 98

Fort Wayne Pistons 94

This game has been long forgotten, but it was the first nationally televised

NBA Finals game. Philadelphia had the league's best record at 45-27 entering the

Finals, but the Pistons had the league's best defense and had lost to Syracuse the

previous year in the Finals.5 Paul Arizin and Neil Johnston had finished second and

third in the league in scoring for Philadelphia, and Arizin would score a game-high

28 points as the Warriors triumphed in Philadelphia before a crowd of 4,100 and a

national television audience.6

Game Seven: 1970 NBA Finals: May 8, 1970

New York Knicks 113

Los Angeles Lakers 99

The 1960s had been a turbulent decade for the NBA on television. The

league had endured being dropped from network television by NBC in the middle of

the decade, and two upstart leagues had sprouted to compete with the NBA for an

audience. In 1969-70, the ABA played its second season, but the NBA's problems

were overshadowed by what happened in New York. The Knicks, after struggling

for years, became a championship team in 1969. They entered the Finals against the

Lakers with the league's best record (60-22), and they brought national attention to

the NBA. This was reflected when Leonard Koppett of The New York Times wrote,

"darlings of the basketball world and a subject of national sports interest since

November . . . the Knicks finally achieved the first title in their 24-year history."7

90

For years the league had suffered from the lack of success in its biggest media

market, but all that changed in 1969. The culmination came in the seventh game of

the NBA Finals.

The most lasting television image from that game and one of the most

enduring television images in sports history came when an injured Willis Reed

limped onto the court just before the opening tip.8 The sight of Reed ignited the

Knicks' already boisterous crowd, and it fired up his Knick teammates as well.9

Reed scored only four points in the game and played only sparingly in the first half,

but the Knicks, led by guard Walt Frazier's 36-point, 19-assist effort, cruised to a

113-99 victory over the Lakers.10 An article in Newsweek noted that the Knicks'

season had brought unprecedented national exposure to the NBA,11 and experts

began to predict that professional basketball would become the "Sport of the

'70s."12

Game Seven: 1984 NBA Finals: June 12, 1984

Boston Celtics 111


This game became the highest-rated NBA telecast of all time, and it marked

the beginning of the NBA's television resurgence in the 1980s. At the start of the

decade, the NBA Finals had been shown on tape-delay because CBS had no faith in

capturing a large audience.13 Then, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird arrived in the

NBA, and their commitment to the concept of team play changed the image of the

NBA players as being selfish individuals.14 Their rivalry had already captured

national attention when their teams met for the 1979 NCAA Final, and in their first

four years in the NBA the Lakers and Celtics combined for three of the four

91

championships in the '80s.15 But in 1984, the Celtics and Lakers finally met for the

championship, in a seven-game struggle that marked the turning point in the NBA's

image on television.

Game Seven attracted the largest television audience in NBA history up to

that point.16 Behind Series MVP Larry Bird's 20 points and 12 rebounds, Boston

defeated Los Angeles and Magic Johnson 111-102 in Boston Garden.17 It was a

championship setting for the NBA's resurgence. Two of the league's most storied

franchises and the league's two best players had made the Finals series a success on

television, and new Commissioner David Stern used this stroke of luck to give the

NBA image the jumpstart it needed.18 Over the next three years Johnson and Bird

would meet twice in the Finals, and their 1987 encounter would be the highest-rated

NBA Finals of all-time until 1993.19 Their rivalry saved the league.20

Game One: 1991 NBA Finals: June 2, 1991


Chicago Bulls 91

The 1991 NBA Finals were symbolic, as the torch of television supremacy

was passed from Magic Johnson, who represented the 1980s old guard, to Michael

Jordan, who would lead the league in the 1990s. Not since Johnson and Bird had

squared off for the third and final time in the NBA Finals in 1987 had there been as

much media attention centered on an NBA Finals series. The only problem for

NBC, which was televising NBA games for the first time that season, was whether

the Finals would last long enough to make a profit. The hope was that with all of

the hype surrounding the Magic-Michael rivalry, the series would go to six or seven

games in order for the network to make a profit (it went five).21 NBC executives

92

clearly received the matchup they had hoped for, with the Bulls and Lakers also

being in two of the top three television markets in the nation.

The Bulls lost the opening game of the series 93-91 in Chicago Stadium, as

a Jordan jump shot that would have tied the game rolled off of the rim at the

buzzer.22 Still, Jordan finished with a game-high 36 points, 12 assists, and eight

rebounds.23 Unfortunately for NBC, the series would last only five games, with

Chicago winning the last four in succession and Jordan winning his long sought-

after championship. This series would serve as the springboard to Chicago's

dominance during the 1990s, and the Bulls annually would become the league's

most-watched team.24 By 1998, they would win their sixth championship and hold

NBA records for the highest-rated regular-season game and NBA Finals series ever.

In fact, Jordan and the Bulls have appeared in 11 of the 15 highest-rated NBA

telecasts ever.25

Each of these games had an impact on the NBA's television history. The

1954 Knicks-Celtics game was significant not only because it was an early setback

for the league on television, but because it established the need for a rule change

that would make the game more attractive to the television audience. The 1956

NBA Finals were significant because they were the first to be televised nationally.

The 1970 NBA Finals brought the league unprecedented attention because of the

Knicks' championship victory. The 1984 NBA Finals was memorable because it

was the first "Magic vs. Bird" championship series, and it marked the beginning of

the league's era of prosperity in the 1980s. Finally, the 1991 NBA Finals were

significant because Michael Jordan had finally reached the Finals, and he opposed

Johnson in another series that became a media spectacle. The series also was the

93

1. Michael L. LaBlanc, Professional Team Histories: Basketball (Detroit: Gale Research,1994), 78.

2. ibid, p. 78.

3. Charles Paikert, "When Biasone Took 24 Seconds to Save the N.B.A.," The New YorkTimes 28 Oct. 1984, Section 5, p. 2.

4. ibid, p. 2.


6. The Associated Press, "Warriors Topple Nats Five," The New York Times 30March 1956, p. 15.

7. Leonard Koppett, "Knicks Take First Title, Beat Lakers, 113-99," The New York Times 9May 1970, p. 1.

8. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Seven 1970 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties1994.


10. Bob Logan, "Frazier Stars in Rout of Lakers," The Chicago Tribune 9 May 1970, Section2, p. 1.


12. William Marsano, "Will it be the Game of the '70s?" TV Guide 4 April 1970, p. 15.




16. Jack Craig, "Record NBA TV Rating," The Sporting News 25 June 1984, p. 11.



springboard to Chicago's television dominance of the NBA over the next eight

years.

Notes

94

19. "Top Rate," The New York Times 19 June 1987, p. D23.


21. Steve Nidetz, "NBC's Biggest Fear? Same As Lakers'" The Chicago Tribune 2 June1991: Section 3A, p. 7.

22. David Aldridge, "Bulls Just Miss as Lakers Take Game 1, 93-91," The Washington Post 3June 1991, p. B1.

23. ibid, p. B1.

24. Tom Bierbaum, "Peacock Sells Jordan Farewell," Variety 15 June 1998, p. 26.

25. ibid, p. 26.

95

CHAPTER 8HOW TELEVISION CHANGED SPORTS

Sports on television also changed the way in which sportswriters covered

the games. By the 1960s television was capturing the drama of sports on the field,

so writers consistently had to find other ways to report the games. L.C. Johnson, a

reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, said:

It (television) makes it a lot more challenging to cover it (basketball). Bythe time the paper comes out, many fans have either been to the game orseen it on television or seen highlights on ESPN. You have to get moreanalytical to give insight into why the outcome occurred, rather than justreporting what happened.

This change resulted in reporters seeking the opinions of others to cover the

aspects of the games that were hidden by the cameras. Thus, postgame interviews

with coaches and players became a ritual.

According to Benjamin G. Rader, other sportswriters in the 1960s,

influenced by the Vietnam War, sought to attack modern sports themselves. They

went about trying to shatter the illusions of sports and subject them to the same

close scrutiny as other institutions.1 They explored issues like racism, sexism,

drugs, religion, gambling, cheating, and violence in sports, as well as the financial

aspects.2 Sometimes fans would find more courtroom, boardroom, or private

information about sports than information about what transpired on the field of

play.3 Johnson, who has covered the NBA for seven or eight years since 1987,

96

has seen the results of these changes since the NBA began to flourish on television

in the mid-1980s:

The biggest change is it's no longer a game anymore. There's so muchmore stuff now, you've gotta check the police blotter, a lot of business-oriented stuff since the leagues are so prosperous. The biggest change iswe have to delve into the personal lives more because of TV coverage. Itmakes you have to be well-rounded, and that makes it tougher to report.

Perhaps no sport was more influenced by the advent of television than

professional basketball. From the earliest days of television, NBA officials realized

the power of the medium and they realized that any chances they had for success

were directly linked to their survival on television. This was evident when Lindsey

Nelson addressed the issue of the television timeout in his autobiography, Hello

Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson. Nelson wrote that during the 1950s, NBA

commissioner Maurice Podoloff "knew that the future of his sport lay in its success

on the tube."4 Podoloff would order a timeout whenever television needed one by

walking up to one of the coaches and telling him to call a timeout.5 Players and

coaches alike were concerned with the way their game was presented on television,

even during the league's first decade on television.6 This made it clear that everyone

in the NBA knew that league success was directly related to television.7

NBA officials also knew that in order to appeal to viewers, they would have

to implement rules that would make the NBA product more viewer-friendly. In the

early 1950s, the NBA suffered from the perception that it was a slow-paced game.

This was due to the fact that in those days, if a team had the lead into the fourth

quarter, it would "freeze the ball" and turn the game into a tedious foul-shooting

exhibition.8 This display threatened the NBA's survival on television, so in 1954 the

97

league adopted a 24-second clock in an effort to "speed up the game."9

The NBA also handled the excessive fouling situation when a rule was

adopted that limited the number of fouls a team could commit per quarter, after

which each foul became a shooting foul.10 The effects of the rules changes were

immediate, as NBA scoring increased by 13.6 points per game from the previous

year.11 In 1966, the NBA reduced the team limit of fouls to five per quarter, and

in the last two minutes of any quarter a team was allowed one foul before the

penalty, even if it had used up all of its fouls.12 In 1979, the league adopted the

three-point shot that had been met with so much fan approval in the ABA, and the

schedule was altered so division rivals would face each other more often than teams

from other divisions.13 In 1981, the NBA started its season three weeks later than

usual to avoid playing the NBA Finals during May sweeps.14 The NBA also

avoided head-to-head competition with the World Series.15 The main benefit was

that the championship series would be carried live by CBS.16

The NBA changed some of its more puzzling rules during the early 1980s in

an effort to appease viewers.17 Fouling in the backcourt was treated as a common

foul, and it was ruled that a free throw shooter could no longer take three free

throws to make two, or two to make one.18 Also, the "illegal defense" rule was

adopted, which prevented teams from double-teaming a player before he received

the ball.19 Like the rule changes in the mid-1950s, these changes were made "in an

effort to speed up the game."20 The NBA also allowed CBS to reduce the number

of its telecasts to avoid oversaturation of its product by cable telecasts.21 Slowly,

ratings began to improve.

98

In the mid-1990s, following a poor championship series between the Knicks

and the Rockets, the league reacted again. New York's defensive style had been

blamed for the poor ratings the 1994 NBA Finals received, so the following year the

NBA eliminated handchecking.22 This meant that if a defensive player placed his

hands on his opponent, it would be an automatic foul. The rule change was made in

an effort to allow offensive players more freedom to be creative.23

Television was also responsible for several franchise shifts during the

league's history, though writers at the time did not comment on it (See Appendix

A). However, in retrospect, it was determined that many franchises moved to

larger markets in an attempt to increase attendance figures and television ratings.

The NBA reached a milestone in 1957, when the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to

Detroit and the Rochester Royals moved to Cincinnati.24 This was significant

because only three years earlier, half of the league's teams were based in small

metropolitan areas of less than 1 million people.25 That year, only Syracuse was in

that category.26 In 1960, the Minneapolis Lakers followed the baseball Dodgers

west to Los Angeles, one of the largest markets in the country. In 1963, the

Syracuse Nationals moved to Philadelphia and the NBA had all eight of its

franchises in major cities for the first time ever.27 The league added another

lucrative market through expansion when the Chicago Bulls entered the league in

1966. One year later, San Diego and Seattle were added to the NBA mix.28 In

1968, Bob Kerner sold his St. Louis Hawks for financial reasons and the team was

moved to Atlanta.29 That same year, the NBA expanded yet again when Phoenix

and Milwaukee joined the league.30 The NBA merged with the ABA in the mid-

99

1. Benjamin G. Rader, In Its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports (NewYork: The Free Press, 1984), 23.

2. ibid, p. 23.

3. ibid, p. 23.

4. Lindsey Nelson, Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson (New York: Beech Tree Books,1985), 261.

5. ibid, p. 261.

6. "Hooping it Up for Television," TV Guide 7 Feb. 1959, p. 23.

7. William Marsano, "Will it be the Game of the 1970s?" TV Guide 4 April 1970, p. 4.

8. "24 Seconds to Shoot," Time 20 Dec. 1954, p. 56.

9. "Basketball Loop Changes 2 Rules," The New York Times 24 April 1954, p. 23.

10. Alex Sachare (ed.), The Official NBA Encyclopedia (New York: Villard Books, 1994),61-62.

11. ibid, p. 62.

1970s in part because there were certain ABA teams CBS wanted to see in the

league.31

Thus, television not only changed the way sports are packaged and

presented to the fan, it also changed the way sports are covered by journalists.

Television has forced franchise relocations and rule changes that serve to maximize

a league's television dollars. And in presenting the games though the medium of

television, the game becomes of secondary importance to writers, who must find

new ways of covering the games. This has resulted in a shift in emphasis to the

personal lives of the athletes and more analysis of what occurred on the field, as

well as discussion of the financial and legal aspects of sports. Without question,

reporting has been made more complex by the presence of television.

Notes

100


13. ibid, 163.

14. Bruce Newman, "The NBA Goes Back to School," Sports Illustrated 9 Nov. 1982, p. 41.

15. ibid, p. 41.

16. ibid, p. 41.

17. ibid, p. 42.

18. ibid, p. 42.

19. ibid, p. 47.

20. Thomas Rogers, "N.B.A. Eliminates Bonus Free Throws," The New York Times 31 July1981, p. A14.


22. George Vescey, "Combating Hand-Checks the World Over," The New York Times 6 Nov.1994, Section 8, p. 5.

23. ibid, p. 5.


25. ibid, p. 72.

26. ibid, p. 72.

27. ibid, p. 88.

28. The Associated Press, "Team Will Start in 1967-68 Season," The New York Times 21Dec. 1966, p. 50.

29. The Associated Press, "St. Louis Losing Hawks to Atlanta," The Washington Post 4 May1968, p. D2.

30. "Milwaukee and Phoenix Obtain N.B.A. Franchises for Next Season," The New YorkTimes 23 Jan. 1968, p. 30.

31. Sam Goldaper, "N.B.A. Gets Merger Spur," The New York Times 15 May 1975, p. S5.

101

CHAPTER 9ANALYSIS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN 1980s NBA GAMES AND 1990s

NBA GAMES

Ever since the NBA's introduction on television in the 1950s, the basic formula

for broadcasting games has remained the same: Announcers deliver the outcome of

plays and events during the games, and the cameras reflect the words of the

announcers. During the NBA's run on NBC from the late '50s to the early '60s,

baseball and football play-by-play man Lindsey Nelson anchored network coverage.

His partner in the color analyst position was former Knick coach Joe Lapchick.

Lapchick's job was to deliver analysis of each important play as it unfolded and to

bring the casual viewer the nuances of what had occurred in the game. The two

announcers complemented each other in terms of explaining the entire picture of a

play or sequence of plays to an audience. This is a formula that has been used in

football and baseball coverage as well. The formula has remained unchanged for

network coverage of the NBA, with the exception of the occasional third man in the

booth and the addition of sideline reporters and more studio hosts.

As the league entered the '70s, there was a change in the style of coverage of

NBA games. Replays had been introduced in the 1960s to give viewers a second

glance at certain plays. Then, in 1973, ABC hired Bill Russell, the ex-Celtic player,

to be its color analyst. Russell's scathing remarks about players and teams brought

a new aspect to game analysis, that of increased criticism.1 Soon former players

began to populate the color analyst chair. After all, who better than an ex-player to

discern the important and spectacular plays from the routine. Also, since the former

102

player had actually been in similar situations to the players in the game, he could

relate their feelings and their state of mind during crucial segments of the game.

While coverage of the games themselves evolved, so did the technological

sophistication of the broadcasts. In addition to replays, different camera angles

were used to capture images from different perspectives to allow the viewers

several different looks at a particular play. When the NBA experienced its

popularity explosion in the 1980s, NBA telecasts evolved into lengthy pregame

shows and several player features to prepare viewers for the drama of the games.

Halftime shows featured analysis of the game at that point, and analysts offered cues

for viewers to look for if one team were to gain an advantage over the other.

To deliver more insight into what the players and coaches were saying during

the actual games, sideline reporters prowled the sidelines to ask questions during

timeouts and before and after the games. The sideline reporter has become a

permanent part of the NBA halftime show, where each coach is asked questions

about his team's performance in the first half, as well as areas to improve upon in

the second half. Finally, postgame shows became more involved because more

analysis of significant plays and significant performances by players was required.

To examine the technical and analytical evolution of NBA telecasts over the

years, five games were selected. Two of the games, Kansas City-Houston in 1980,2

and Boston-Milwaukee in 1983,3 were regional telecasts that epitomized NBA

coverage in the early part of the decade. Game Five of the 1987 NBA Finals,4

Game Four of the 1991 NBA Finals,5 and Game One of the 1998 NBA Finals6 were

national telecasts that showed the evolution of NBA coverage during

103

the league's most successful years. Each of these games was examined in terms of

content and technological advancements to determine how the league's coverage

was similar or how it was different as the NBA went from poverty in the early '80s

to prosperity in the late '80s and '90s.

1970s Telecasts

Before these games were examined, three "NBA's Greatest Games" telecasts

that aired on ESPN were examined for their content to see how coverage was

carried out in the 1970s: Game Five of the 1976 NBA Finals,7 Game Six of the

1977 NBA Finals,8 and Game Seven of the 1979 Eastern Conference Finals.9 Each

telecast was examined to determine how analysis and technology played a role in

NBA broadcasts during the 1970s.

In examining coverage of the NBA during the 1970s, the researcher found that

the play-by-play announcer dominated the discussion during the games, with the

color analyst speaking occasionally to comment on a replay or an important

situation he had picked up. For example, during the 1976 Greatest Games telecast

of the Celtics-Suns NBA Finals, color analyst Rick Barry noted that when a player

had the ball and was running upcourt, he always had to be careful with an opposing

player pursuing him. Barry made this point when Boston guard Jo Jo White

knocked the ball away from a Phoenix player from behind as the player ran

upcourt.10

Barry was another in the long line of player-analysts, though his career was not

quite finished in 1976 when he joined CBS play-by-play man Brent Musburger for

the Finals telecast. Barry, one of the greatest players in NBA history, was also one

104

of the most disliked players in the league--by his own teammates as well.11 His

reputation as a perfectionist and his sharp tongue were perfectly suited for

analyzing NBA action.12 When a player made a mistake, Barry usually had a remark

about it. For instance, during the same Celtics-Suns game, Barry remarked on a

foul by Celtic Don Nelson on a jump-shooting Phoenix guard: "Why small forwards

wanna be shot blockers is beyond me."13 Barry continued the tradition started by

Russell for his honest analysis.

Barry also provided analysis during replays, as is still done today. In the 1970s,

replays usually occurred after a player was fouled or as a game went to commercial.

This was when the color analyst would attempt to break down what had happened

during the play. These analyses often retold viewers what they had already seen

with no diagramming of plays or attempts to discuss what other players should or

should not have done during the play.

For example, during the 1979 Eastern Finals telecast between the Bullets and

the Spurs, George Gervin was fouled attempting a jump shot. In the analysis

during the replay, the color analyst stated, "He took a turnaround jump shot right in

CJ's face to drop in a possible three-pointer."14 There was no mention of how

Gervin was left alone with the defender or what transpired away from the ball to

allow Gervin to get the ball in a scoring position. This unsophisticated analysis

bears a slight resemblance to today's intricate analysis of plays.

During the course of analyzing the tapes from these "Greatest Games", the

researcher came upon two camera angles frequently used during the telecast. The

first was the traditional sideline shot from which the player with the ball could be

followed heading up the court. The second was a shot from behind the basket

105

where plays made near the basket area could be more easily seen. The only time

two replays of the same play were shown in the analysis was in Game Six of the

1977 NBA Finals. There, Julius "Dr. J" Erving dunked over Portland center Bill

Walton, and the play was shown from two different angles, both in slow-motion. In

addition, after a score, the player who had scored would be shown in a close-up

shot. This part of network coverage has remained consistent throughout the last 20

years.

Before the start of the action or during a timeout, the two coaches and benches

would be shown in tight shots. The score graphic appeared at the bottom

of the screen after each score for only a few seconds, and when the shot clock was

running down CBS provided a small blue graphic in the left portion of the screen

that showed the clock running out. Also, when the game clock ran inside of two

minutes, CBS would display the clock in the lower right-hand portion of the

screen.

This was significant because it allowed fans to see how much time was left on all

of the important possessions for each team. This way, a viewer would not have to

guess how much time was left in the shot clock or in the game. Also, by showing a

score graphic after each basket, viewers were able to keep pace with the scoring

and see how much a team led by. This coverage was consistent throughout the

three games examined from the NBA's "Greatest Games" collection. In the early

1980s, the coverage would remain virtually unchanged.

Pregame Coverage in the 1980s

Pregame coverage in the 1980s was limited because of the league's struggles on

television in the early part of the decade. Even the 1987 NBA Finals had a short

106

pregame show as the NBA began to garner national attention. However, there were

aspects of pregame coverage in the 1980s that are still used in the 1990s. These

included the teases, player lineups, and the introduction of announcers. Changes

included the addition of studio hosts and more in-depth analysis of the first-half.

These changes were important because the studio hosts would usually keep the

viewer updated on scores and highlights from around the league. They also

provided features on key players in the games and kept fans updated on the status of

the two teams participating. More in-depth analysis of the first half allowed viewers

to see why one team was leading and which players were making significant

contributions for each team. Also, viewers were allowed to see plays in the first

half that were well-executed and what the teams had to do to win in the second half.

Teases

The purpose of the tease is to entice the viewer into watching the game and to

explain why the game would be worth watching. For example, the tease for the

Kansas City-Houston game in 1980 highlighted the two best players on each team,

Otis Birdsong for Kansas City and Moses Malone for Houston.15 This tease

focused on what the network felt would be the two pivotal players in deciding the

game's outcome, and that served as a basis to reel in viewers. The tease is

significant because it lures the fan to watch the telecast, and what better way to

accomplish that than to focus on the marquee players for each team.

Introduction of Announcers

The announcer introduction usually follows the tease for NBA games. The

announcers simply introduce themselves and their pictures are usually captured with

a graphic underneath that shows their names. For example, in the Kansas City-

107

Houston game, after a graphic was shown indicating the two teams identities and

the location of the game, the cameras switched to the announcers. Frank Gleiber

introduced his partner John McGlocklin and himself while name graphics were

placed under each of them.16 This serves to let viewers see who is calling the game.

In recent years however, the format has changed. The studio hosts usually are

introduced first to begin the pregame show, then towards the end of the pregame

show the announcers who call the game are introduced. For example, at the start of

the pregame show for the 1991 NBA Finals, Bob Costas introduced Pat Riley and

himself to the audience, then launched into the pregame show.17 At the end of the

pregame, they finally "tossed" the broadcast to game announcers Marv Albert and

Mike Fratello.18 This new style of introduction allows the fan to more clearly

separate the pregame festivities from the actual game itself. It also allows the game

announcers to focus on the task at hand, while the studio hosts usually cover a

broader range of topics than the game itself. This is not only a staple of NBA

telecasts, but of all sports telecasts.

Team Lineups/Injury Report

To set the stage for the game, player lineups are introduced to show the fans

who will be playing in the game. Key statistics for certain players are highlighted to

show their strengths, and injuries are reported to show how the absence of certain

players could affect their teams. In the pregame show for the 1983 Milwaukee-

Boston playoff game, the announcers commented at length on Larry Bird's absence

since he was sick with the flu, and how that would affect the Celtics in the game.19

The player lineups are the television viewers' scorecards for knowing who will be

starting in the game so they know who they are watching individually.

108

1990s Pregame

In the 1990s, the three basic aspects of the pregame show have not changed.

However, with respect to the NBA Finals, the teases have become more detailed

and elaborate. Also, since NBA Finals games are the most important games of the

season, injury reports became more detailed and pregame shows became more

involved.

Teases

For instance, the tease for Game Four of the 1991 NBA Finals showed a

group of children playing basketball on an outside court.20 Bob Costas of NBC did

the voice-over narration, saying that the children most wanted to be likeMichael

Jordan. In time the image of the children faded and Jordan's image replaced them.

His highlights from the first three games of the Finals were displayed as Costas

continued his narration.21

This more elaborate pregame tease was repeated prior to the start of Game

One of the 1998 NBA Finals. This time the opening shot was of a man in a gym

practicing, again accompanied by a Costas voice-over.22 The premise for this

opening sequence was that each of the players on Utah and Chicago had worked

hard to reach the NBA Finals. Gradually, the image of the man in the gym faded

and was replaced by images of the Bulls' previous NBA Finals highlights, as well as

images of the 1997 NBA Finals between Utah and Chicago.23

109

Injury Report

This elaborate opening sequence was just one aspect of the increasingly

detailed and sophisticated NBA pregame show. For instance, in the 1980 Houston-

Kansas City game, announcer Frank Gleiber reported on an injury to Houston guard

Calvin Murphy and commented on a facial injury to Kansas City forward Scott

Wedman.24 There was no video footage of the injuries and there were no interviews

done with any teammates or the players themselves to discuss the injuries. In the

1991 NBA Finals, NBC showed Jordan limping into the locker room before the

game as he arrived at the stadium.25 Studio hosts Bob Costas and Pat Riley then

speculated on the severity of a toe injury Jordan had sustained in game three.26

Sideline reporter Ahmad Rashad discussed the therapy Jordan had undergone after

the previous game while the instance of Jordan's injury was replayed for viewers.27

Finally, viewers were shown an image of Jordan's new shoe, which was cut open

slightly at the toe to allow him to feel more comfortable.28

In the 1998 NBA Finals, NBA added to its injury report when commenting

on Dennis Rodman's injured thumb. As in 1991, NBC camera crews caught

Rodman as he arrived at the stadium while Costas reported on his injury. This

time, sideline reporter Jim Grey interviewed Rodman in the locker room before the

game began to get his perspective on the injured thumb.29 Afterwards, studio hosts

Hannah Storm and Bill Walton discussed the ramifications Rodman's injury would

have on the Bulls' defense, particularly against Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone.30

Thus NBC covered the injury, got the perspective of the injured player, and

discussed how the injury would affect his team. This was a clear advancement from

the 1980 and 1983 games in which player absences were mentioned briefly and only

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Bird's absence was discussed at length.31 None of the pregame interviews from

those games discussed player injuries, and there was little discussion of the potential

effects on the team.

Analysis

While player injury reports have become more detailed, so have the

discussions of what each team would have to do to win the game. During 1980s

coverage, announcers usually mentioned two or three aspects of the game that a

team had to control in order to win. There was no video accompaniment or

explanation of how the teams might accomplish their goals. By the 1990s, this had

all changed.

For instance, in the 1991 NBA Finals, announcers Marv Albert and Mike

Fratello examined the Lakers' problems in the first three games of the series.32

Specifically, these problems were the Lakers' lack of rebounding, shooting guard

Byron Scott's shooting problems in the series, and the Bulls' pressure defense.33

The discussions of these problems were supported by graphics highlighting the

Lakers' ineptitudes in rebounding, Scott's shooting, and the team's overall shooting

woes.34 In addition, highlights of Chicago blocked shots and steals and pressure on

the ball were shown to accompany Fratello's analysis.35

In the 1998 NBA Finals, announcers Bob Costas, Isiah Thomas, and Doug

Collins discussed what Utah and Chicago had to do to win the series.36 For Utah,

the problem was how to deal with Michael Jordan. As Thomas discussed how to

deal with Jordan, highlights of various plays that Jordan had made in certain

situations were shown to viewers.37 Doug Collins said that for Chicago to be

successful, it would have to defend against Utah's pick-and-roll offense. Collins

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discussed the various options Utah had when running the pick-and-roll with the aid

of game footage.38 This was done with the use of a telestrater, which is another

name for a replay on which the color analyst diagrams what viewers will see with

the use of a light pen. The telestrater allowed Collins and Thomas to point out to

viewers exactly what to look for as the play unfolded. This technological

sophistication was an advancement over the pregame show for the 1991 NBA

Finals, when the highlights of Fratello's announcement were shown without the use

of a telestrater. After these breakdowns in game action, the game usually was ready

to start.

1980s Game Coverage

In the early 1980s, commentary from announcers was unsophisticated and

did little more than explain the results of the previous play. Announcers usually

used the opportunity of a player scoring a basket or doing something spectacular as

an opportunity to reveal that player's background to the audience. There were no

intricate play breakdowns or chalkboards until the late 1980s.

In the 1990s, commentary has become more detailed. Color analysts have

become more critical during the course of games, and there is more discussion of

strategy than before. Also, announcers have become more proficient at informing

viewers of the subtleties of a play than ever before. Game coverage from the 1980s

to 1990s was examined from four different areas: commentary during the games,

including that of sideline reporters, themes of the games, and use of replays, and the

use of graphics. It was noted that commentary has become more sophisticated,

there is more of an emphasis on describing the themes of the games, the use of

replays and graphics is more profound now than ever.

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Commentary

Commentary in the early 1980s by the play-by-play announcer remains

virtually unchanged today. It is the play-by-play man's job to give the viewer key

statistics and figures while calling the game. It is also his job to elicit strategy

discussion from his color analyst. Also, the play-by-play announcer provides player

backgrounds and generally acts as the tour guide of the NBA game.

For example, when Houston guard Allan Leavell scored in the first quarter

against Kansas City, announcers Frank Gleiber and John McGlocklin used the

opportunity to talk about how big of a surprise Leavell had been as a rookie.39 He

was the 104th player selected in the draft in 1979, but Gleiber and McGlocklin

agreed that he had earned a spot on the All-Rookie team.40 This was an instant in

which a player's score allowed Gleiber and McGlocklin to inform the viewer about

Leavell's play during the season.

The analysis of the color commentator was not as insightful in the early

1980s as it has become in the 1990s. McGlocklin would review a play after a foul

and describe what the audience had already seen the first time, without describing

how the play was designed or any of the other subtleties that viewers might have

missed. McGlocklin also commented on lineup changes and how Houston and

Kansas City matched up with each other. However, when he said he felt that the

Rockets could not match up with Scott Wedman of Kansas City, McGlocklin did

not elaborate on why he felt that way.

In the early 1980s coverage was also restricted by the fact that there were

no quarter summaries or other key points of the game that the broadcasters outlined

for the fans. Not until the NBA experienced its popularity surge in the

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late 1980s did announcers begin to break down the game into a story of four

quarters. This was done with the addition of graphics, which will be discussed later.

As television coverage of the NBA evolved, so did the style of announcing.

In the early 1980s, the play-by-play man set the stage for each play and each game

by announcing key facts the viewer should look for. The color commentator

provided play analysis and assessed team strategies, as well as player substitutions

and strengths and weaknesses. It is also the job of the color commentator to

criticize players or coaches if he feels they made a mistake.

In the 1987 NBA Finals, Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn provided the

foundation for the way NBA games are broadcast today. Stockton reported the

important facts and key statistics of the game, while Heinsohn provided analysis and

strategies for both teams. Stockton was often criticized for being too noncommittal

in his analysis. It was suggested by more than one journalist that he reported

innocuous statistics rather than take the time to levy important criticism or discuss

game strategy.41 Heinsohn was criticized by many because, as a former Celtic

player, he was seen as a Celtic booster. On the other hand, Celtic fans believed

Heinsohn was going out of his way on telecasts to criticize the Celtics and prove

that he was not biased.42 Heinsohn also was criticized for his distinctive New Jersey

accent and what some felt was his curious use of the English language.43

During the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals game, Heinsohn provided some

insightful commentary. For example, he informed Stockton and the television

audience that the Lakers' plan was not necessarily to score on the fast break, but to

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continue to run to put pressure on Boston's tired starters.44 He also noted that a

bigger Laker lineup might have slowed the Laker fast break, but it did provide the

Lakers with more defensive strength to keep Boston's dominant frontcourt players

out of rebounding position. For his part, Stockton coaxed these insights from

Heinsohn by questioning whether the Lakers' inability to score on the fast break was

hurting them. He also noted the substitution of Laker center Mychal Thompson and

questioned whether it would slow the Laker fast break as well.45

In the late 1980s, networks added a sideline reporter to their NBA telecasts

to give viewers information about player injuries and to talk to prominent fans in

attendance. In addition to Heinsohn and Stockton, sideline reporter James Brown

provided information during the game as well. During the game, he interviewed

Celtic great Bob Cousy on how he would compare his style of play with that of

Laker great Magic Johnson. Brown later reported during the second quarter from

the cramped quarters of the Laker's video coordinator in Boston Garden. The most

important contribution of the sideline reporter is to get quick access to information

about injuries, which Brown did when he reported on Laker Michael Cooper's ankle

sprain that forced him to leave the game. Brown's final report during the game

came as he chatted with Laker fan Jack Nicholson from Nicholson's seat in the

Boston Garden.46

As the 1990s began, NBA coverage became more sophisticated. NBC

acquired the rights to NBA telecasts from CBS, and when the 1991 NBA Finals

began, the network had two studio hosts, two announcers to call the game, and two

sideline reporters. Marv Albert, considered by many to be the best play-by-

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play announcer in basketball, was signed by NBC.47 Albert, like Stockton, provided

key facts and statistics to the viewers at home. Mike Fratello, Albert's

sidekick at color commentator, also provided some important insights. For

instance, Fratello pointed out that the Lakers had redesigned their offense in an

effort to try to get more scoring against the Bulls. Fratello also noted that the

Lakers' lack of scoring from the field, particularly the three-point line and the free

throw line, had cost the Lakers in Game Three of the series. Fratello added that the

Lakers would have to improve their rebounding if they had a chance of beating

Chicago.

In the 1990s, the role of the sideline reporter has expanded to include

reporting what coaches and players are saying during timeouts and during halftime.

During the NBA Finals, NBC placed two sideline reporters on each bench to get

reactions from both teams during a game. The sideline reporter has evolved into an

important part of any NBA telecast. In the 1991 NBA Finals, the sideline reporting

chores were handled by two men, Ahmad Rashad and Steve Jones. Rashad

reported from the Chicago bench, while Jones provided reports from the Laker

bench. Rashad provided two reports during the game about Jordan's toe injury.

The first report concerned the injury itself and how Jordan was feeling, while the

second report concerned the fact that Jordan had changed his shoes during a

timeout in order to improve his comfort. Rashad has remained NBC's sideline

reporter, but he has endured more than his share of criticism. Journalists have

called Rashad's work "fluff", and they regularly comment on his close relationship

with Jordan that seemingly interferes with his job as a reporter.48

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The other sideline reporter, Steve Jones, provided four reports from the

Laker bench during the game. First, after the third quarter began, Jones reported

that Laker coach Mike Dunleavy was upset with the Laker's lack of intensity in the

first half. Then, after Laker forward James Worthy limped to the locker room,

Jones reported that the ankle injury he had sustained in the previous series had

worsened. Later in the period Jones added that Worthy would not return to the

game and would be doubtful for Game Five. Finally, after Laker guard Byron Scott

fell and hurt his shoulder, Jones reported that Scott was feeling better and that the

Lakers were looking to set up scoring opportunities for him.

Game One of the 1998 NBA Finals saw a change in the basic announcer

format, with three announcers calling the game instead of two. There were two

studio hosts and two sideline reporters as well. Marv Albert, who resigned from

NBC due to his legal problems, was replaced by former studio host Bob Costas.

Costas is widely respected as one of the best announcers in sports, and he was

praised for his work in replacing Albert by doing "his usual splendid play-by-play

work."49 Doug Collins, a former NBA coach and player, "is the best basketball

analyst--NBA or college--working right now."50 Isiah Thomas, the former Piston

great, was criticized because of his use of language and his "interminable stories that

dragged on over game action."51

As Stockton and Albert did before him, Costas provided viewers with key

statistics and player backgrounds throughout the game. However, unlike his

predecessors, Costas was critical of a player during the game. In this case, it was

Chicago Bulls' forward Dennis Rodman. When Costas received word from Ahmad

Rashad that the Bulls wanted to insert Rodman but he was still in the locker room,

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Costas said, "It's one thing to be idiosyncratic, it's another to be idiotic."52 Costas

would later return to the Rodman subject, when in overtime he noted the

contradictions in Rodman as a player.

Collins and Thomas took turns adding their insight, with Thomas

commenting on the speed of the players on the floor and Collins remarking on the

need for Utah forward Byron Russell not to use up his fouls so he could help guard

Jordan. The two would continue to trade insights during the game. Occasionally, a

point made by Collins would be expanded on by Thomas, and sometimes it was

Collins who expanded on a point by Thomas. The two color analysts clashed only

once: when in overtime Karl Malone kicked the ball before Byron Russell picked it

up. Thomas argued that Chicago should have received the ball with a new 24-

second clock, while Collins argued that Malone had kicked the ball inadvertently,

which meant that Utah should retain possession of the ball.53

The only two sideline reports during the game came from Jim Grey on the

Utah bench, although Rashad was on the Chicago bench as well. First, Grey

reported during the second quarter that Utah guard Jeff Hornacek's injured Achilles

tendon was hobbling him. Then, in overtime, Grey reported that Utah coach Jerry

Sloan told his players to "get back into the game" since they were struggling.54

Themes of the Games

Each NBA telecast consists of a theme or themes that serve to explain why

one team triumphs over another. Network commentators present these themes

during the course of the games, and graphics are often used to support their claims.

This "game within a game" scenario has changed since the NBA's struggles in the

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early 1980s. At that time, there was little effort made to describe what the turning

points in the games were or to explain the key statistics that decided the outcome.

For example, in the Kansas City-Houston game, announcers Frank Gleiber

and John McGlocklin touched on only two reasons for Kansas City's victory.

McGlocklin claimed that it was Kansas City's defense and in particular the team's

defense on Moses Malone that led to the Kings' victory. Gleiber noted the

shooting percentages for each team from the field to support McGlocklin's theory,

but there was never a graphic that was introduced to support their claims.55

In the Milwaukee-Boston playoff game, Eddie Doucette and again John

McGlocklin broke the game themes down by quarter. In the first quarter, as the

Celtics got off to a good start, the announcers noted Boston's strong guard play,

tighter defense than in Game One, and the changed substitution pattern that

resulted from the absence of Larry Bird. Second quarter themes included Celtic

guard Danny Ainge's hot shooting, the fact the Boston and Milwaukee had reversed

roles from Game One, and a focus on Milwaukee's struggles offensively. In the

third quarter, McGlocklin and Doucette focused on Milwaukee's comeback in

cutting a 17-point halftime deficit to 6. In the fourth quarter, the announcers

claimed that it was Milwaukee's aggressiveness in the areas of rebounding and

defense that led to their come-from-behind victory.56

In the 1987 NBA Finals, Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn continued the

process of describing what they felt were key moments in the game. The first

quarter began with Heinsohn stressing the importance of the Celtic tempo to slow

down the Laker fast break. In the second quarter, Heinsohn and Stockton returned

to the theme of the fast break. They noted that Boston had surprisingly outscored

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the Lakers on the fast break during the first half, and a graphic flashed on the screen

to support their claim. Third quarter themes included Danny Ainge's scoring

outburst and a Celtic scoring burst that stretched a slim halftime advantage to a

double-digit lead. In the fourth quarter, Heinsohn highlighted Celtic coach K.C.

Jones' use of this bench as a major reason for Boston's victory.57

In the 1991 NBA Finals, Marv Albert and Mike Fratello provided a few key

aspects for viewers during the first half of the Bulls-Lakers game. The announcers

called attention to Jordan's injury, Byron Scott's shooting woes, the Bulls defensive

pressure and athleticism, Johnson's fatigue, and the Lakers' weak bench. As the

Bulls seized the advantage in the third quarter, Fratello and Albert again pointed to

two themes for Chicago's dominance. The Bulls' athleticism and defense was again

noted, as well as what Fratello perceived as the Lakers' lack of intensity. Byron

Scott's shooting problems were also stressed as a reason for the Lakers' problems.

In the final quarter, as the Bulls pulled away for the victory, Fratello and Albert

singled out Chicago's defensive greatness, the struggles of Laker forward Sam

Perkins, and the injuries to Scott and James Worthy as reasons for the Laker loss.58

First half themes for Game One of the 1998 NBA Finals included the issue

of whether Utah had received too much rest before the start of the Finals, Karl

Malone's struggles, and Utah guard Jeff Hornacek's injury to his Achilles.

Third quarter themes included the struggles of the two star players for each team,

Jordan and Malone. In the fourth quarter and again in overtime, the announcers

consistently referred to the fact that Karl Malone had struggled. Also in overtime,

Isiah Thomas questioned the wisdom of Bulls coach Phil Jackson for leaving guard

Steve Kerr in the game. Kerr, who was not known for his defense, allowed Utah

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guard John Stockton to score his game-high eight points in the overtime and clinch

Utah's victory.59

Replays

Since the advent of the television replay in the early 1960s, the NBA has

seen the use of replays change as the years have gone by. In the late 1970s and

early 1980s, the use of replays was confined to either leading to a commercial

break, or being shown after a foul. The replays also usually were shown from two

different camera angles: behind the basket and from the sideline. Only the

spectacular plays, such as a Julius Erving dunk over Bill Walton in the 1977 NBA's

"Greatest Games" program, were shown more than once and from more than one

angle.60 In recent years however, the scope of the replay has changed. Replays,

which were once shown only after fouls and commercials, are now shown more

frequently and sometimes during the course of the game. The more spectacular the

play, the more often it is shown and sometimes from as many as three different

angles. For example, in the 1991 NBA Finals, two different angles of the same pass

to Michael Jordan for a layup were shown. Camera angles, which once were

confined to the sidelines and under the basket, now include overhead angles and

reverse angles. A camera mounted behind the basket gives fans a closer perspective

of a slam dunk that rattles the rim.61

Replays for the complete games reviewed by the researcher were counted to

see how the use of replays has changed over the past 20 years. As expected, the

number of replays increased dramatically, as well as different replay angles of the

same play. In the 1980 Kansas City-Houston game, there were only 18 replays

used during the course of the game, with no replay being shown more than once.62

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These replays were shown either after fouls or leading to commercial breaks. In the

1983 playoff game, the numbers jumped to 35 replays, including three from two

angles.63

Surprisingly, in the 1987 NBA Finals game, there were only 19 replays used

during the game, and there were none used of the same play.64 The format was

consistent with the earlier games though. The replays were used only during

timeouts or after fouls, and they were accompanied by the analysis of the color

commentator. In the 1991 NBA Finals, the number of replays jumped to 38, with

nine of the replays being of the same play from a different angle. These same plays

were shown from the four different angles that are now used in each basketball

game: under-the-basket, sideline, overhead, and the reverse angle.65 In the 1998

NBA Finals, the numbers increased to 60 different replays, including 12 of the same

play.66 This number was significantly higher only because the game went into

overtime, and with each play an important one, 15 replays were shown in overtime.

That meant there were 45 replays used during the course of the four-quarter game,

a number only slightly higher than the total of 38 in Game Four of the 1991 NBA

Finals.

Replays are not only used to show what happened, but to breakdown why a

play occurred. In the early 1980s, the use of a chalkboard for the color analyst to

use to diagram a play was nonexistent. In the 1987 NBA Finals however, Tom

Heinsohn used the CBS chalkboard to diagram Boston forward Kevin McHale

passing out of a triple-team to a wide open teammate for a dunk.67 In the 1998

NBA Finals, NBC used freeze frames and spot shadows to show Utah's offensive

tendencies and to show how the Jazz defended against Michael Jordan.68

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Graphics

Graphics have evolved over the last 20 years in NBA coverage as well. In

the late 1970s and early 1980s, the only graphics used were the score graphics and

the shot clock graphic, which usually appeared as the shot clock went under 10

seconds. The game clock was usually shown when the first and second halves

wound down to under two minutes. In the 1987 NBA Finals, the use of graphics

expanded to include fast break points for both teams and high scorers for each team.

In the 1991 NBA Finals, additional graphics were added that included shooting

percentages for each quarter, scoring by quarters, blocked shots, and other key

statistics. There was also the use of a graphic comparing players at the same

position and the star players of each team. This use of graphics was consistent in

the 1998 NBA Finals, with only a couple of minor changes. First, NBC displayed a

graphic showing the statistics of Utah's highly successful pick-and-roll play during

the first quarter. There was also a graphic introduced that compared a player's rest

in game minutes to the total actual minutes of rest. In addition, there was a graphic

of a shot chart shown for each team's best player, with the blue dots showing his

misses and the red dots showing his makes.69 All of these graphics demonstrated

NBC's desire to get viewers to see the important aspects of the game, and to

provide them with constant reminders of why one team was beating the other.

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Halftime Coverage

NBA halftime shows have changed the most since the early 1980s, when

CBS aired an interview at halftime. Since then, the halftime interview has remained

an important staple of the halftime show. But there is also analysis of the game

itself, by the studio hosts as well as the announcers. The format has changed so that

the studio hosts break down the first half, followed by a feature or

interview. Then the game announcers break down the results of the first half more

specifically with the aid of replays and graphics. The halftime shows from each of

the five games reviewed will be analyzed in terms of content to see how much the

format has changed since 1980.

Content

The content of halftime shows for the NBA has changed drastically since

1980. In the Kansas City-Houston game from that year, CBS' halftime show

consisted of a conversation between Brent Musburger and Bill Russell about NBA

centers. There were no highlights or interviews with players, just Musburger and

Russell chatting on a golf course in San Diego.70 As television coverage evolved,

halftime coverage changed as well. The CBS halftime interview and three-on-three

contests were replaced by more game-oriented features and more analysis of the

first half results.

In the Boston-Milwaukee playoff game in 1983, announcers Eddie Doucette

and John McGlocklin discussed the first half and the strategy to be used in the

second half. Doucette noted that Ainge and Wedman from Boston had been

the best players in the first half, but Milwaukee had the advantage in rebounding.

Doucette also noted that Boston's inside defense had taken the Bucks out of their

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game and forced them to shoot from the outside, which they were unsuccessful in

doing. He also noted that if not for Bird's absence, Wedman would not have had as

much of an opportunity to play in the first half as he did.71

In the 1987 NBA Finals, Dick Stockton and Tom Heinsohn described the

strategies for both teams before the second half started.72 In the 1991 NBA Finals,

Bob Costas started the halftime show by listing the leading scorers for each team.

He added that Johnson's assist-to-turnover ratio had improved in the first half from

the first three games of the series. Then Costas asked Pat Riley to assess the

Laker's problems in the first half. Riley cited that the Lakers top three players were

not getting support from anyone in the scoring department, and that the Bulls were

outworking the Lakers in the rebounding area. In addition, Costas and Riley

interviewed retired Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, asking him questions

ranging from what he felt the Lakers chances were in the series to what Abdul-

Jabbar had been doing since he retired. After the conclusion of the interview, NBC

presented a segment in which Riley predicted the trends in the 1990s, from the

player of the decade to the coach and team of the decade.73

After a commercial break, Albert and Fratello assessed the first half for the

Lakers. Fratello pointed out that the Lakers had struggled with their shooting and

had no production from their shooting guards, and forward Sam Perkins had not

produced as well. Two graphics were shown to support this. First, a graphic on

the shooting percentages and Perkins' struggles from the field was shown, followed

by a second graphic on the rebounding situation, with A.C. Green's team-high seven

rebounds singled out. After another commercial break, sideline reporter Steve

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Jones interviewed Laker coach Mike Dunleavy on how the Lakers could remedy

their first-half problems. This interview coincided with the start of the second half.74

In the 1998 NBA Finals, the halftime format changed slightly. Studio host

Hannah Storm was joined by three others at the table--former NBA players Bill

Walton and John Salley, and New York Post writer Peter Vecsey. Storm began the

halftime show by noting that Jordan had accounted for half of Chicago's 40 first-half

points, then she added that the Utah bench had outscored Chicago's bench 16-4.

Next, Vecsey interviewed Chicago head coach Phil Jackson on the impending

breakup of the Bulls. The interview was interspersed with images of the Bulls'

previous championships, as well as images of Jordan, Pippen, and Jackson. After

the interview, Storm asked Vecsey to comment on the possibility that the 1998

Bulls would be broken up whether they won the championship or not.75

After a commercial break, Bill Walton assessed the first half. He

commented on Utah's dominant bench play, and as he did so replays of Utah guard

Howard Eisley and forward Shanden Anderson were shown to the audience. Next,

a graphic was displayed showing Anderson and Eisley's scoring for the first half.

John Salley then commented on Dennis Rodman's first half and the fact that he had

five rebounds despite the thumb injury. As Salley talked, a replay was shown of

Rodman grabbing a rebound one-handed. Salley also noted that Rodman had

played good defense on Karl Malone in the first half. Storm then broadcast French

Open results from earlier in the day and promoted NBC's French Open coverage for

the weekend, before going to a commercial break.76 The opening image as

NBC returned from its commercials was of Stockton walking back onto the court

while Costas gave his first-half statistics. Costas gave Jordan's first-half numbers as

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the camera switched to Jordan exiting the locker room. After that, a graphic on

first-half trends was shown in which it was reiterated that Jordan had half of

Chicago's first-half points, and Chicago teammates Toni Kukoc and Scottie Pippen

had struggled from the field. Utah's first-half trends were Stockton and Eisley's

first-half contributions, as well as Utah's 12-4 edge over Chicago in the fast-break

department. Collins then went to the telestrater and diagrammed a pick-and-roll

play from the first half that left Stockton with a wide-open shot, which he made. A

pie graph of Utah's scoring in the first half was shown, as well as a shot chart of

Stockton's misses and makes in the first half. This was followed by a pie chart of

Chicago's first-half scoring, as well as Jordan's shot chart for the first half. Thomas

provided the voice-over for these graphics, as he read to the viewers what they

could see on the screen.77

After the commercial break, sideline reporter Ahmad Rashad reported from

the Bulls' bench that Phil Jackson told the team to stop Utah's screen-roll, to keep

controlling the offensive tempo, and to look for the open man when Jordan was

double-teamed. Jim Gray countered with a report from the Utah bench that coach

Jerry Sloan had admonished his team's first-half defensive effort and that he wanted

more double-teams on Jordan. This last report transpired as the second half

began.78

Postgame Coverage

With regular programming almost always following NBA coverage on

national television, postgame shows are usually not very long. The format has

changed very little since the early 1980s, when postgame interviews were

conducted with players and announcers revealed key statistics. Depending on the

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time and the day the NBA games are telecast, the postgame show can be very long

or brief in its duration.

Content

At the conclusion of the 1980 Kansas City-Houston regular-season game,

announcer Frank Gleiber noted the records for each team and a graphic was flashed

that showed the second half of CBS' NBA doubleheader.79 This was the extent of

the postgame coverage for that game, since viewers were immediately switched

following the commercial to the second game of the doubleheader. At the end of

the 1983 Boston-Milwaukee game, Eddie Doucette noted Milwaukee had

outscored the Celtics in the third and fourth quarters, and he especially emphasized

the Bucks' 21-9 spurt in the fourth quarter to win it. He also noted that it was

Bucks guard Sidney Moncreif's runner in the lane that clinched it for the Bucks, and

center Bob Lanier's free throw put the game out of reach for Boston.80

Doucette rationalized that Bird's absence and Boston's shortened bench on

such a humid day wore the Celtics down at the end of the game. Doucette also

remarked that Milwaukee's rebounding advantage was a key factor as well.

McGlocklin conducted two postgame interviews with Bucks' players about the

come-from-behind victory, then the broadcast team signed off for the night.81

After Game Five of the 1987 NBA Finals ended, sideline reporter James

Brown interviewed Celtic guard Danny Ainge about Boston's chances of winning

Game Six and about his performance in Game Five. After a commercial break,

studio host Brent Musburger listed the scoring leaders for the Celtics and Lakers.

This was accompanied by a graphic of the box score for each team.82 Game Four of

the 1991 NBA Finals ended with hardly any postgame coverage. Marv Albert

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simply recapped the high scorers for both teams, as well as the key statistic that

Chicago had outshot the Lakers 53 percent to 37 percent. Albert also noted that

the Lakers had received no production from forward Sam Perkins, who made just

one out of fifteen shots for the game. As Albert recounted these statistics, slow

motion replays of Michael Jordan driving to the basket were shown. Jordan was

selected as NBC's "Player of the Game."83

The postgame show for Game One of the 1998 NBA Finals started with a

replay of the last play of overtime, in which Scottie Pippen missed the potential

game-tying shot. Jim Gray interviewed Karl Malone immediately after the game

ended, and highlights of Malone's performance were shown. Ahmad Rashad

interviewed John Stockton, and again NBC showed replays of Stockton's

performance during the game. Costas wrapped up the coverage with the statistic

that Chicago had lost its last four road playoff games, and he set up the rest of the

night's programming and the schedule for the next game as highlights of key plays

from the game were being shown. An extended postgame show was broadcast on

CNBC, which is not available nationally.84

Conclusion

The overall results of the changes made in NBA broadcasts over the years is

that the games are presented in a more sophisticated manner than they ever were

before. The pregame and postgame shows are used to highlight significant plays

and individual performances that contributed to team success. Also, the important

factors that announcers feel decided the outcome are relayed to the audience. The

use of multiple replays and various camera angles allows viewers to see the action

more clearly, and to see what occurs away from the ball as well. The detailed

129

1. Steve Gelman, "Network Basketball," TV Guide 19 March 1977, p. 36.

2. NBA on CBS: Kansas City at Houston. Secaucus, NJ: NBA Entertainment, Inc. 1980.

3. 1983 Playoffs: Boston vs. Milwaukee. Secaucus, NJ: NBA Entertainment, Inc. 1983.

4. 1987 Playoffs: Boston vs. Los Angeles Game 5. Secaucus, NJ: NBA Entertainment, Inc.1987.

5. NBA on NBC: Game One 1991 NBA Finals. Los Angeles: NBC 1991.

6. NBA on NBC: Game One 1998 NBA Finals. Salt Lake City, Utah: NBC 1998.

7. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Five 1976 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties 1995.

8. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Six 1977 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties 1995.

9. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Seven 1979 Eastern Conference Finals. New York: NBAProperties 1996.

10. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Five 1976 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties1995.

11. Tony Kornheiser, "A Voice Crying in the Wilderness," Sports Illustrated 25 April 1983,p. 84.

12. ibid, p. 94.

13. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Five 1976 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties1995.

14. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Seven 1979 Eastern Conference Finals. New York: NBAProperties 1996.

graphics and game themes reiterated by announcers show viewers what to look for

when the game's outcome is decided. Announcers provide more detailed analysis

on replays and after baskets to let viewers know how a play was made successful or

how a play failed. Finally, the use of sideline reporters allows the audience to

learn about injury information and team strategies during the course of a game. All

of these advances have made for more sophisticated and detailed coverage of the

NBA.

Notes

130



17. NBA on NBC: Game Four 1991 NBA Finals. Los Angeles: NBC 1991.

18. ibid.



21. ibid.


23. ibid.



26. ibid.

27. ibid.

28. ibid.


30. ibid.



33. ibid.

34. ibid.

35. ibid.


37. ibid.

38. ibid.


40. ibid.

131

41. Jack Craig, "Kudos to CBS for NBA," The Sporting News 13 June 1983, p. 9.

42. Skip Myslenski & Linda Kay, The Chicago Tribune 26 May 1986, p. C2.

43. Larry Stewart, "He's Long Retired, But Laker Fans See Heinsohn in Green," Los AngelesTimes 22 May 1987, Part 3, p. 3, Column 1.

44. 1987 Playoffs: Boston vs. Los Angeles. Secaucus, NJ: NBA Entertainment, Inc. 1987.

45. ibid.

46. ibid.

47. Leonard Shapiro, "NBC Is Windy and Not at Peak in Chicago-Utah Finals Coverage," The Washington Post 8 June 1997, p. D12.

48. Richard Sandomir, "Reporter or Celebrity Pal? Rashad Is Giving Jordan A Free Ride," The New York Times 21 May 1996, p. B11, column 2.

49. Joe Pollack, "NBA Finals Terrific, NBC Coverage Horrific," St. Louis Journalism ReviewJuly-August 1998, v28, p. 7.

50. Milton Kent, "NBC's Coverage Somewhat New, Much Improved," The Baltimore Sun 5June 1998, p. 2D.

51. Rudy Martzke, "Thomas Learning on Job as NBC's NBA Analyst." USA Today 11March 1998, p. 2C.

52. NBA on NBC: Game One of the 1998 NBA Finals. Salt Lake City, Utah: NBC 1998.

53. ibid.

54. ibid.






60. NBA's Greatest Games: Game Six 1977 NBA Finals. New York: NBA Properties 1995.



132







69. ibid.





74. ibid.


76. ibid.

77. ibid.

78. ibid.



81. ibid.




133

CHAPTER 10DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The study of the NBA's national television history revealed that there have

been fluctuations in interest in the league on television. In the 1950s, the NBA was

an unknown commodity that was unattractive to networks and viewers alike

because of the slow pace of the game. It took a nationally televised display of the

NBA product to convince owners that the league would never survive without

major changes. The shot clock was adopted the following season, and the

improvement was seen immediately.

In the 1960s, the NBA boasted some of its best players for any one era.

However, ratings were lukewarm at best, and NBC dropped NBA games from its

lineup in the early part of the decade. A new commissioner and ABC put the NBA

back on television, but there was concern that would last into the 1970s that

television simply could not capture the nuances of basketball. The '60s also saw the

emergence of two rival leagues as competition for the NBA, the ABL and the ABA.

The ABL folded after only a year-and-a half, but the ABA, established in 1967,

competed with the NBA for college and professional talent. NBA expansion and

the competition with the ABA thinned out the talent base for the professionals,

leaving too many bad teams and not enough good players.

In the 1970s, the NBA started out promisingly. The Knicks had won their

first championship, and basketball was being hailed as "The Sport of the '70s." The

league changed networks in the early part of the decade, switching from ABC to

CBS. The ratings were suffering however. When the NBA and ABA finally

merged in 1976, experts believed that all of the NBA's problems would be solved.

134

Instead, the problems worsened. Writers believed the problems were image-related,

and they cited everything from escalating salaries to the perception that the NBA

was a "black"league and a drug-infested league. Writers could not understand how

a league that had more skillful players to showcase than ever before was dying. At

the end of the decade, the NBA playoffs were shown on tape-delay due to a lack of

interest.

In the early 1980s, the NBA's problems continued. The Finals were still

being shown on tape-delay, and the league ratings were still low. Then, in 1984, the

Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals, which featured a Larry Bird versus

Magic Johnson showdown. The seventh game produced the highest NBA ratings

ever, and the league, behind new Commissioner David Stern, began to flourish.

Among the reasons cited for the league's revival were the institution of a salary cap

and a landmark drug policy, as well as Stern's focus on marketing the players. The

addition of new superstars like Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley elevated the

NBA's status.

By the time the 1990s began, the NBA was the most popular league in

sports. Michael Jordan assumed the mantle of Bird and Magic as television's most

bankable athlete. He led the Bulls to six championships during the decade, and the

two non-Bulls Finals generated low ratings in contrast to those that the Bulls

participated in Jordan has appeared in 11 of the 15 highest-rated games in NBA

history, and the NBA has negotiated its largest television contracts during Jordan's

career.

There were several key games in NBA history that helped or hindered the

league's relationship with television. The 1954 playoff game between the Knicks

135

and Celtics was cited as a nationally televised game that forced league officials to

make a rule change that would impact the game. Danny Biasone's 24-second clock

saved the NBA, and the results were seen immediately.

Game One of the 1956 NBA Finals between the Philadelphia Warriors and

the Fort Wayne Pistons was significant because it was the first nationally televised

NBA Finals game. The game is now forgotten, but it established a television first

for the NBA. However, it was another game in 1970 that would elevate the

league's status like no game before it.

In 1970, the New York Knicks won their first-ever championship, and with

it brought the league more attention than it had ever received before. Game Seven

of the 1970 NBA Finals was also memorable because it became the "Willis Reed

Game." It was called that because the image of Reed limping onto the court before

the game began remains one of the most famous images in league history.

However, the excitement generated by the Knicks' championship was short-lived,

and it would be 14 years before the NBA would enjoy another popularity surge.

Game Seven of the 1984 NBA Finals was significant because it was the

highest-rated game in league history at that time. It also ushered in the Magic-Bird

era, as the two players credited with saving the NBA would meet three times for the

championship in four years. Their 1987 meeting would be the highest-rated NBA

Finals series in history, until the Bulls-Suns Finals in 1993.

Game One of the 1991 NBA Finals was significant because it was Michael

Jordan's first Finals game ever, and because it came against Magic and the Lakers.

The torch was passed to Jordan as the Bulls won, and he would lead Chicago to six

136

NBA titles in the '90s. Jordan also has left his mark on television, as the Bulls

annually draw the league's highest ratings.

In addition to these key games, a comparison was made between NBA

games from the 1980s and those of today. It was found that in '90s telecasts there

are more replays, more sophisticated graphics, and more detailed analysis than in the

past. There also are more announcers than ever before, and the hype surrounding

the games has increased as well.

Perhaps this is the best indication of how far the league has come on

television, with the NBA Finals garnering as much attention as any other major

sporting league championship except the Super Bowl. The NBA has grown in

stature and popularity in the last twenty years, but the doomsayers feel that it might

not survive the loss of Jordan and the possible elimination of an entire season due to

a lockout.

Implications

It was found that television had a significant impact on not just the NBA,

but print journalism and broadcasting as well. In regards to the three questions

asked in the methodology section, it was determined that the NBA made many rule

changes to improve its image on the medium as well as to improve ratings. For

instance, during the 1950s the implementation of the 24-second clock is widely

regarded as the one change that saved the league because it eliminated the stalling

tactics that turned off viewers and the networks during the early 1950s. Other rule

changes, such as the limitation of the number of fouls a team could commit per

quarter and the elimination of the bonus free throw, were made in the interest of

"speeding up the game" for television viewers. Finally, the introduction of the

137

three-point shot and the elimination of hand-checking allowed for a more wide-open

style of basketball, which increased scoring and in turn would attract viewers.

Television also changed the way sportswriters covered the games. Before

television was introduced, a minority of fans could actually see the games they were

interested in. Even when radio was the primary medium of information, journalists

were able to provide accounts of what happened during the games in order to paint

a picture for the sports fan. With the advent of television, fans were able to see

their teams perform when they wanted. This shifted the focus of sportswriting from

simply recapping the key moments in a game to providing more analysis of how a

team won.

Also, sportswriters were forced to inspect the personal lives of the athletes

they covered in order to provide a different aspect of coverage. In addition,

financial and legal information was disseminated to readers as writers continued to

find new angles of the games to explore. The NBA was not immune to these

changes in print journalism, and in today's sports pages there is as much information

about arrests and salary problems as there is coverage of the games themselves.

Writers were forced to diversify their coverage in order to present new information

to the sports fans that he could not get from simply watching the game.

As for the last question, television changed the way broadcasters presented

the games to the public. During the radio age, announcers were allowed to

embellish the truth since the avid fan could not see the plays as they occurred and

had to rely solely on the announcers to provide information. Once television

arrived, broadcasting had to become more precise and more analytical.

138

Like print journalists, broadcasters had to provide viewers with something

additional because the viewers could see what was unfolding on the screen. So

announcers began to analyze what had occurred to make a particular play

successful. This was done through the use of replays from various camera angles to

show viewers exactly what the announcers had seen and why they felt a particular

play had been successful. The best insight was reserved for the ex-player who

became the color analyst for the networks, since he had the credibility to tell

viewers what the athletes were thinking when they made certain plays since the

analyst had been in those situations before. Announcers also highlighted key areas

of the game where they felt one team was superior than another, and they used

these key points to inform viewers how the games would be won or lost. This was

done through the use of graphics, which in the 1990s has evolved to include

statistics such as points scored for a team while its star player rested, and shot

charts that follow the performances of key players.

139

APPENDIX ANBA FRANCHISES BY DECADE SINCE 1946

NBA in 1946-47:

Eastern Division: Western Division:

Washington Capitols Chicago Stags (1948-49)Philadelphia Warriors St. Louis Bombers (1948-49)New York Knickerbockers Cleveland Rebels (1946-47)Providence Steamrollers (1948-49) Detroit Falcons (1946-47)Toronto Huskies (1946-47) Pittsburgh Ironmen (1946-47)Boston Celtics

Dates in parentheses denote last season of play for each team

1950-51:


Philadelphia Warriors Minneapolis Lakers(1948)$Boston Celtics Rochester Royals (1948)$New York Knickerbockers Fort Wayne Pistons (1948)$Syracuse Nationals (1949)$ Indianapolis Olympians(1948-53)Washington Capitols* Tri-Cities Blackhawks (1949)

* Folded midway through seasonParentheses denote years teams entered the league, Indianapolis operatedfrom 1948-49 season to 1952-53$ NBL teams that joined the BAA to form the NBA in 1948-49 and 1950-51

140

1960-61:


Boston Celtics St. Louis Hawks $Philadelphia Warriors Los Angeles Lakers *Syracuse Nationals Detroit Pistons >New York Knickerbockers Cincinnati Royals <

$ Moved from Milwaukee (1951-1955) prior to 1955-56 season* Moved from Minneapolis prior to 1960-61 season> Moved from Fort Wayne prior to 1957-58 season< Moved from Rochester prior to 1957-58 season

1970-71:

Eastern Conference Western ConferenceAtlantic Division: Midwest Division:

New York Knickerbockers Milwaukee Bucks (1968)Philadelphia 76ers * Chicago Bulls (1966)Boston Celtics Phoenix Suns (1968)Buffalo Braves (1970) Detroit Pistons

Central Division: Pacific Division:

Baltimore Bullets < Los Angeles LakersAtlanta Hawks > San Francisco Warriors $Cincinnati Royals San Diego Rockets (1967)Cleveland Cavaliers (1970) Seattle Supersonics (1967)

Portland Trail Blazers (1970)

Parentheses denote years teams began play* Moved from Syracuse prior to 1963-64 season> Moved from Milwaukee prior to 1968-69 season

$ Moved from Philadelphia prior to 1962-63 season< Founded in 1961 as Chicago Packers; renamed the Zephyrs in 1962;moved to Baltimore in 1963

141

1980-81:


Boston Celtics San Antonio Spurs *Philadelphia 76ers Kansas City Kings <New York Knickerbockers Houston Rockets $Washington Bullets > Denver Nuggets *New Jersey Nets * Utah Jazz (1974) +

Dallas Mavericks (1980)

Central Division: Pacific Division:Milwaukee Bucks Phoenix SunsChicago Bulls Los Angeles LakersIndiana Pacers * Portland Trail BlazersAtlanta Hawks Golden State Warriors ^Cleveland Cavaliers San Diego Clippers #Detroit Pistons Seattle Supersonics

* ABA teams that joined NBA in merger in 1976> Moved from Baltimore and renamed the Capitol Bullets in 1973; renamedWashington Bullets in 1974< Moved from Cincinnati to Omaha in 1972; renamed Kansas City in 1975$ Moved from San Diego in 1971+ Founded as New Orleans Jazz in 1974; moved to Utah in 1979^ Moved from San Francisco to Oakland, CA in 1971# Founded in 1970 as Buffalo Braves; moved to San Diego and renamed theClippers in 1978Parentheses denote years teams joined league

142

1990-91:


Boston Celtics San Antonio SpursPhiladelphia 76ers Utah JazzNew York Knickerbockers Houston RocketsWashington Bullets Orlando Magic (1989)New Jersey Nets Minnesota Timberwolves(1989)Miami Heat (1988) Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets


Chicago Bulls Portland Trail BlazersDetroit Pistons Los Angeles LakersMilwaukee Bucks Phoenix SunsAtlanta Hawks Golden State WarriorsIndiana Pacers Seattle SupersonicsCleveland Cavaliers Los Angeles Clippers *Charlotte Hornets (1988) Sacramento Kings $

Parentheses denotes years teams entered league* Moved from San Diego in 1984$ Moved from Kansas City in 1985

143

1997-98:


Miami Heat Utah JazzNew York Knickerbockers San Antonio SpursNew Jersey Nets Minnesota TimberwolvesWashington Wizards * Houston RocketsOrlando Magic Dallas MavericksBoston Celtics Vancouver Grizzlies (1995)Philadelphia 76ers Denver Nuggets


Chicago Bulls Seattle Sonics $Indiana Pacers Los Angeles LakersCharlotte Hornets Phoenix SunsAtlanta Hawks Portland Trail BlazersCleveland Cavaliers Sacramento KingsMilwaukee Bucks Golden State WarriorsToronto Raptors (1995) Los Angeles Clippers

* Renamed the Wizards in 1997$ Renamed the Sonics in 1997

Sources: The Sporting News Official NBA Guide: 1996-97 Edition The Official NBA Encyclopedia Professional Sports Team Histories: Basketball

144

APPENDIX BNBA TELEVISION CONTRACTS

NBA Cable Television Contracts

Seasons Station Contract Amount1979-80 to 1981-82 USA $1.5 million/3 years1982-83 to 1983-84 USA/ESPN $11 million/2 years1984-85 to 1985-86 TBS $20 million/2 years1986-87 to 1987-88 TBS $25 million/2 years1988-89 to 1989-90 TBS/TNT $50 million/2 years1990-91 to 1993-94 TNT $275 million/4 years1994-95 to 1997-98 TNT/TBS $352 million/4 years1998-99 to 2001-02 TNT/TBS $890 million/4 years

NBA Network Television Contracts

Seasons Network Contract Amount1953-54 DuMont $39,000/13 games1954-55 to 1961-62 NBC N/A1962-63 to 1972-73 ABC N/A1973-74 to 1975-76 CBS $27 million/3 years1976-77 to 1977-78 CBS $21 million/2 years1978-79 to 1981-82 CBS $74 million/4 years1982-83 to 1985-86 CBS $88 million/4 years1986-87 to 1989-90 CBS $173 million/4 years1990-91 to 1993-94 NBC $600 million/4 years1994-95 to 1997-98 NBC $750 million/4 years1998-99 to 2001-02 NBC $1.75 billion/4 years

Source: The National Basketball Association

145

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153

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Mario Ricardo Sarmento was born on May 28, 1975, in Horta, Faial, one of the

Azorian islands off the coast of Portugal. After being graduated from Nova High

School in Davie, FL, in 1993, he enrolled in Florida State University. The author

received his Bachelor of Science degree in media communications at Florida State

University in 1997. He is expected to receive his Master of Arts in Mass

Communication degree from the University of Florida in December 1998. The

author's area of specialization is sports journalism.

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