Michael Jordan, a former guard for the Chicago Bulls who helped lead the organization to six NBA championships and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, revealed earlier in the week that he is going to be a special contributor for NBA coverage on NBC. Comcast Corporation, the parent company of NBCUniversal, is reportedly paying $2.45 billion per year for a media rights package.
The parameters surrounding how Jordan will contribute to the presentations remains unknown, but the addition made waves as Upfront week commenced in New York City on Monday. John Skipper, the former president of ESPN, echoed such a sentiment in the most-recent edition of The Sporting Class podcast.
“It’s a coup to get him,” Skipper explained. “How good he’ll be? I don’t know. But if you are sitting around a room going, ‘We now have the NBA. Who do we want on the air?’ You say, ‘Michael Jordan,’ the first thing you would get around the table is, ‘We’ll never get him.’”
David Samson, who appeared on the podcast alongside host Pablo Torre, opined that he is not going to be on the airwaves for the network. Torre then sought to gain a perspective from the proverbial inside of the room, pondering how the company acquired the media rights deal for billions of dollars and now needs to staff it. Leading into the NBCUniversal Upfront event on Monday, the network had announced a variety of its on-air talent, some of which includes Mike Tirico, Noah Eagle, Carmelo Anthony and Reggie Miller.
“They’re not staffing it with Jordan,” Samson said. “They did a contract where he has to make several appearances. He taped something for the Upfronts – he didn’t even show up at the Upfronts – they did a tape of unveiling him…. So to me, you have to manage expectations.”
Torre conveyed that Jordan not being an in-person attendee at the Upfront from Radio City Music Hall was “a funny signal.” Subsequent reporting from John Ourand of Puck detailed that Jon Miller, president of acquisitions and partnerships for NBC Sports, had been working on the deal with Jordan for several months. The presentation also included a live performance of “Roundball Rock” from composer John Tesh and a 55-piece symphony orchestra that performed a medley of advertising jingles to commence the event.
“Look, it’s marketing,” Skipper said of the Jordan deal. “If nothing else, it will be successful marketing that they are getting associated. We used to talk about the Abu Dhabi wanting to be associated with The Walt Disney brand, they want to be associated with the Jordan brand.”
Samson asked whether his first contribution to NBC Sports will be through being interviewed by someone or through conducting an interview with someone himself. Skipper felt that it would be the former in that NBC Sports would be interviewing Jordan, along with having him say something about the upcoming game and providing 10 minutes on who he thinks will win the championship.
“He’s going to meet with advertisers,” Samson elaborated. “He’s going to be – it’s part of the Tom Brady FOX deal. Well, I would assume depending on the number. See with Brady, we got the number, and part of the number was not just being the No. 1 analyst. It was he had to do Upfronts, he had to do ambassador work. We have to see what ‘special contributor’ means. If he’s getting $7 million a year, that’s one thing. If he’s getting $30 million a year, that’s a totally different thing.”
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