The Josh Innes Show - NBA On NBC Is Back

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

I was reading a story about how the new NBA on NBC will rely on nostalgia and innovation. Well, let's read about these innovations... Also, I find it funny that CBS, who used to carry the major SEC Game of the Week, is now carrying Indiana football games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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big series, and blockbuster movies streaming on Paramount Plus. Cue the music. Like NCIS, Tony and Ziva. We'd like to make up her own rules. Tulsa King. We want to take out the competition. The substance.

This balance is not working. And the naked gun. That was awesome. Now that's a mountain of entertainment. All right. So the NBA on NBC is making its return, and I just saw this headline. What's new with the NBA on NBC? A mix of nostalgia and innovation after a long hiatus. Basically what it is, is the theme song is back for the NBA on NBC. And that's what has the world excited. That's essentially what this comes down to.

Like, that's all I can think of. Now, I don't know what sort of, um, what sort of innovations are going to exist in this. But they're really hanging heavily on just, hey, we've got Roundball Rock back. Come hang out with us. That's all I'm kind of getting from this. Let's play a couple commercials and get into it. First off, Roundball Rock is the greatest sports theme song of all time. Right up there with the NHL on ESPN, which a lot of people won't acknowledge

because a lot of people don't acknowledge hockey. the ESPN NHL music, which they use now, again, for the NHL. But when I think of, like, Gary Thorne calling playoff and Stanley Cup championship games on ESPN, I think of that. I think of the NHL on ESPN music, and that is elite music. You know, the Monday Night Football theme song is elite music. Like, these are elite instrumentals, elite intros for sporting events. The SEC on CBS, which I think they still use that bed. for the Big Ten on CBS, which it doesn't have the same pop.

When you hear, like, the SEC on CBS music, it doesn't have the same pop when it used to be, you know, here's Alabama, LSU, or Tennessee, Georgia, or LSU Florida, live from the swamp. It doesn't have the same pop when you see Indiana versus Rutgers. Like, boy, you talk about from the fucking penthouse to the outhouse. Holy shit. The fact that CBS used to carry the premier SEC game, 2.30 every weekend, aside from like the two times a year where they would play a night game

and it was usually LSU, Alabama. And you got that awesome, dun-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like the Home Depot logo would pop up on the screen. And you knew that it was the most important game of the week. You knew that LSU was playing Florida. You knew that Alabama was playing Georgia. You knew that if Ole Miss was smoking hot and Lane had them playing well,

that you knew it was Ole Miss versus Alabama. Like, you knew that that game mattered. And you heard Vern Lundquist, and you knew that game mattered. Now it's like, it is the Big Ten on CBS. We have Iowa, Iowa taking on Penn State. You're like, oh, Christ, nobody asked for this. What was there a game I was watching the other day that this really came to mind? Well, let me see.

I want to know the SEC, the Big Ten on CBS schedule. Big 10. I need to find this. I can see what's happened the last couple of weeks because I don't remember. Big 10 on CBS schedule. It is so bad. Let's see. Big 10 on CBS schedule. So August 23rd, it was Stanford and Hawaii. Saturday, August 30, Nevada at Penn State. Yes, the SEC on CBS, where you used to see Alabama, LSU. You got Oklahoma State, Oregon. you've had USC at Purdue, you've had Michigan at Nebraska and Washington at Washington State, you've had Ohio State at Washington. October 4th, here's your big 10 on CBS schedule.

Or this was October 4th, so this is the one. Air Force at Navy. That's right. Air Force at Navy followed by Penn State at UCLA. Next week. Oh, this is the one. Indiana and Oregon. And I don't care what Indiana has become, and you could say Indiana is a legit team now.

The fact that CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the fact that CBS went from airing Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Georgia, went from airing that on a consistent basis in parts of the country that truly give a shit about college football to airing Indiana at Oregon. You got to look at that and go, we feel like we lost in this, right? So when you hear that music, now, like, that music should not be allowed to be played for that. It's the same way I felt when you'd hear Roundball Rock for Fox's coverage of college basketball. Like, if you ever flipped on FS1 on a random Wednesday, and it was like, Maryland, the Maryland Terps are taking on Rutgers, and you'd hear, bum, bap, ba, da bum, bum, ba, ba, you're like, eh, that didn't work. when I've got Providence, when I got Big East basketball, that's not even a thing anymore, but Providence taking on Seton Hall and I hear the NBA on NBC.

I'm like, no, that shouldn't be allowed. Like, it doesn't sound right. I don't appreciate it. I do not want it. That is how I feel when I hear the CBS football music being played for Rutgers or Indiana versus Rutgers or Indiana versus Oregon. Or like later in the year. at Nebraska. Boise State at Utah State. Ew. No. No thank you.

And you got to think that these guys who signed up to call these games, like, you know, you had what's his name, Gary Danielson, who did these SEC games forever and knew that the game he was calling was the game the whole world gave a shit about. Now it's like Indiana at Oregon, neat. Or Penn State at UCLA. Now, it turned out to be a big upset, so I guess good for them. but jeez. But that's what I think of when I hear that music. And it's the same thing.

Like NBA on NBC, it takes you back to a time and place. But like this whole story about the nostalgia, like you're banking on people that watched, they haven't been on there for how long, 20 plus years. Like what dude that's 21, 22, 23, like these young dudes, these millennial dudes that are watching the NBA now? How many of them truly give a shit about the NBA on NBC and the intro and Marve Albert and Matt Gukas. How many of them really give a shit about that? Let's see. Here's the story. When a media company loses the rights to broadcast an event

even in sports, it's rare for that company to make another run at those same rights, especially after two decades. But that's what's happened when NBC has taken it over. When the NBA on NBC signed off for the final time on June 12, 2002 after the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets, completing the sweep and the last three pete among the four major American sports, the network didn't go into panic mode. They have Notre Dame football and they had tennis and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now NBC Universal is back in the hoops game after paying about 2.5 billion a year, which is part of a record 11-year, $76 billion media, right? Steel, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's an enormous investment by the company. The NBA came around and we thought it made sense for us as the NBA fills a time in the schedule in the spring where the NBA offers a diverse audience. It's not often you can take on a big sport and start from scratch. The theme of the day was not only nostalgia, but also the advancing of the product. Of course, round ball rock, the iconic theme of the NBA on NBC is back, but Grammy-winning musician Lenny Kravitz will perform the show open for Sunday Night Basketball.

Ugh. Oh! Just the idea of Sunday Night Basketball feels gross, doesn't it? And does this mean when the game starts, it's going to be sponsored like the Carrie Underwood song is? So right when the game starts, you hear the Sunday Night Basketball Anthem brought to you by. Geico. So is that the innovation? Like, where else is the innovation? Up to 100 NBA regular season games will air on NBC and Peacock.

Cool. Mike Tariko will be the lead play-by-play announcer with Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford. Cool. Like, I don't know. Like, where is the innovation? So I'm just curious. Top talent should lure viewers. Part of that job, let's see, Maria Taylor is the lead studio host,

along with Carmelo, Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady. No one's going to come over and watch because Vince Carter is doing a studio show or Tracy McGrady is doing a studio show. It's not the NBA on T&T. It's not inside the NBA. Inside the NBA will have people watching for the show. No one's like, God, I got to hear what Carmelo Anthony has to say about this Knicks Pacers game on a Tuesday. Like no one gives a shit. That's not going to lure anybody in. I'm still waiting to read about these innovations. I see. nothing. Like, I've read nothing. There will also be an on the bench portion of the game where one sideline reporter or analyst will be assigned to each team providing insight into

their strategy. That's innovation? You mean like what they do on a football broadcast all the time? Like innovation? The headline told me there'd be innovation. I was told there would be innovation. It said nostalgia and innovation. All I've heard is nostalgia. Like, hey, by the way, Remember growing up when you used to watch Marv Albert call the NBA finals before he bit that chick's back? Well, now we're innovating. Yeah, what's your innovation? We're going to have sideline reporters. It's going to be a hell of an innovation, guys.

There's going to be dudes that talk about the strategy for each team. You don't say. Well, that's certainly intriguing. Not. Sunday night basketball will take a break on February 8th and 15th as the network will broadcast the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star game, and the Winter Olympic. Anthony acknowledged that he is taking it day by day and there will be a learning curve as a new studio analyst, but he assured viewers that he will approach the role with authenticity,

teaching the game while entertaining and moving the conversation forward. He said his job was not to criticize players, but he also didn't want to discuss the other companies that would be broadcasting the league and making any comparisons of content. We don't talk about anyone else in this building, said Anthony. Okay, cool. So your innovation is going to be to entertain people. Let me tell you, man, there's some big-time innovations going on on the NBA on NBC. That's what the headline told me.

It said there would be innovation, a mix of nostalgia and innovation. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to innovate. Our nostalgia's going to be that we're going to bank on people and join the 90 seconds of this theme song. The innovation is that Carmelo Anthony is going to come on TV and not criticize people. So we have innovated. Guys, listen, big innovations for the NBA on NBC. We just spent $76 billion for the rights to air the NBA.

What's your big innovation? Well, first off, Carmelo Anthony's not going to criticize people, and we have sideline reporters. But we're hoping that our big name analyst that we've brought over from the other networks that nobody was watching. We hope that they watched this one, though. $76 billion seems like a lot to spend on any sport. Just seems like a ton. Anywho, more to come.