Two things happened over the weekend that caused my brain to produce a tasty idea. First, there were no fans in attendance at UFC 249 on Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic. Without any crowd noise the distinct sounds of punches, kicks, and gasps for air as a fighter struggled out of a chokehold grabbed my attention. Then the Sunday airing of ESPN’s docuseries The Last Dance included a clip of Michael Jordan crying on the locker room floor after the Bulls beat the Sonics in the 1996 NBA Finals. The footage has aired plenty of times, but it was the first time I’ve actually heard Jordan sobbing. It provided a much different feel.
Here is my idea — drum roll please — if the NBA is able to resume its season, the league should offer the NBA playoffs on Pay-Per-View complete with sounds from the court. Commissioner Adam Silver said on Friday that fans are not expected if the season resumes. Instead of viewers feeling like something is missing without thousands of screaming fans in attendance, the audience would be gaining access that has never been granted before. And talk about memorable audio?
Oh baby, this is it.
Yeah, the NBA would need to smooth things over with current TV partners TNT and ABC/ESPN. I doubt they’d be giddy about a separate PPV broadcast cutting into their audience. Sure, the NBA would also need to urge players not to drop anti-gay slurs during games or anything outlandish that would be damaging to the league. But think of the upside.
Oh, the glorious upside.
We would hear top-shelf trash talking. We would hear players yelling at officials, coaches yelling at players, and players yelling at their opponents and own teammates. Can you imagine hearing audio of the time Draymond Green and Kevin Durant yelled at each other on the bench? Think of having the audio of Scottie Pippen telling Phil Jackson that he wasn’t reentering the game because Jackson drew up a final play for Toni Kukoč. You wouldn’t want to hear LeBron James talk smack to Kawhi Leonard, or Russell Westbrook jaw with — well with everybody? I sure would.
It. Would. Be. Beautiful.
Also consider that the NBA is leaking money worse than a 1989 Chrysler LeBaron convertible top. 40 percent of league revenue comes from fans — you know, the people that won’t be at these games. CCTV in China still has no intention of airing NBA games after Daryl Morey let his Twitter thumbs cost the league hundreds of millions. My idea would provide a sorely needed revenue stream for the NBA.
Did I just become Adam Silver’s best friend?
You might love or hate my playoff PPV idea (you should love it) but there is no doubt that now is the time to be in the ideas business. Doing a sports radio show during a global pandemic is all about being creative, which requires straying from that sports comfort zone at times.
WHAM sports talk host Bob Matthews did his final show last week in Rochester, New York. He told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that, “The coronavirus got the best of me. It’s been tough talking sports for two hours when there’s no sports.” I’m not questioning the creativity of Matthews at all. I’m saying that a sports radio show shouldn’t sound the same when the world is currently much different.
Think of how unusual the sports landscape is right now. The NFL held a fully virtual draft for the first time in league history. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the NBA’s reigning MVP, hasn’t shot a basketball in nearly two months because he doesn’t have access to a hoop. Only a select number of NBA teams have opened their practice facilities with such lengthy guidelines that it makes War and Peace look like light reading. The sports world has changed so much. Why would a sports radio show remain the same?
If you were about to bake a cake and realized you didn’t have any flour, would you proceed along while blindly hoping things magically work out, or would you alter your approach? We currently don’t have the key ingredient of live sports. Your sports radio cake isn’t going to come out the same way without it. You have to adjust.
Sports radio managers and hosts shouldn’t scrap their normal formulas altogether. It isn’t like LeBron is doing ballet dances to stay in shape while waiting for the Lakers practice facility to open. He’s training in similar, yet altered, ways. It’s about taking a quarter turn from the norm, not doing a complete 180. Look for ways to push the boundaries and experiment without abandoning everything that’s familiar.
If I’m a manager, I’m not constantly trotting out the same lineup as if these are normal days in a normal live-sports month of May. I’d throw a random listener on the air for a full segment with my host(s) and promote the bejesus out of it. I’d actually do it a handful of times, call it May Madness, and have listeners vote on the bracket-style contest for a prize. As a host I’m looking to create buzz while doing things that are memorable. Mr. P90X Tony Horton dropped by on my Portland show last week as I maxed out on overhand pull-ups. I got to a reasonable 20. Was it blow-your-mind stuff that reinvented radio? No. But it was something memorable that I could also share online.
You should live on Idea Street during this wacky time. Throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. Just like the NBA playoff Pay-Per-View idea I laid out, weigh the pros and cons. Figure out how an idea benefits you and what the potential drawbacks are. (Btw, can you imagine hearing the audio of Jordan yelling at Knicks bully Xavier McDaniel from back in the day? How could you not love my idea? Sorry, back to business.) If your idea will likely lead to a win without risking the farm, let it rip!
What I love most about sports radio is the obligation to be creative. You also never know exactly how any day will play out on the air. Well, we’re talking days and months here due to COVID-19. The world is different right now. Your day-to-day life is different. The sports world is different. If your show sounds the same way it always has, I have one simple question for you — why? I don’t think these are desperate times for sports radio. Let’s just say that these different times for the industry call for different measures.
Brian Noe is a columnist for BSM and an on-air host heard nationwide on FOX Sports Radio’s Countdown To Kickoff. Previous roles include stops in Portland, OR, Albany, NY and Fresno, CA. You can follow him on Twitter @TheNoeShow or email him at bnoe@premierenetworks.com.
