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Jeff Van Gundy: ABC/ESPN Have Different Job Than Teams in NBA Finals

Derek Futterman
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ABC and The Walt Disney Company will present the NBA Finals for the 21st consecutive season beginning on Thursday, June 1 at 8:30 p.m. EST. After a thrilling Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night, the matchup has been established as the Miami Heat taking on the Denver Nuggets. This year’s presentation of the NBA Finals will be the first time all weeknight games will begin at 8:30 p.m. EST, and games on Sundays will commence at 8 p.m. EST. The broadcast team of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will be at the helm bringing fans all the action.

Breen will be calling his 18th NBA Finals, which is the most ever for a play-by-play commentator, and should the series reach a fifth game, will reach 100 NBA Finals games called for his career. Van Gundy and Jackson have been on the call for 17 and 15 years, respectively, and have had the chance to witness history in the making. They know none of it would be possible without the team ESPN has amassed, but are surprised it has lasted this long because of their experience coaching.

Over the years, both Van Gundy and Jackson have reportedly considered and/or interviewed for a variety of head coaching jobs, and each believe the other should be afforded another chance on the sidelines.

Van Gundy most recently served as head coach of the Houston Rockets and Yao Ming, but was relieved of his duties after a Game 7 loss in 2007. Jackson, who played under Van Gundy on the New York Knicks, guided Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors to establish a culture and foundation built on winning championships. He was let go the season before the team captured a championship under head coach Steve Kerr in 2015.

“To be able to do it with friends makes it very rewarding,” Van Gundy said of calling the NBA Finals. “With all the upheaval that we have at times in TV [and] management, to work with Tim [Corrigan] and Mike, Mark and Lisa [Salters] really makes it like it’s home.”

Both Van Gundy and Jackson are honored to share the broadcast desk with Breen, who has had his fair share of memorable moments throughout his commentary career. He was recently recognized as the winner of the Sports Emmy award for “Outstanding Personality/Play-by-Play” for the second consecutive year, maintaining duties calling NBA games nationally for ESPN/ABC and locally on MSG Networks.

“Time and time again, to hit the right note and hit the right key at the right time is like watching Michael Jordan or [having] Magic Johnson or Nikola Jokić sitting alongside us,” Jackson said. “It’s something that I don’t take for granted.”

The NBA Finals matchup between the Heat and Nuggets presents an interesting quandary towards sports media pundits since both teams were featured one time throughout the regular season on NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC. When asked if the league has a responsibility to promulgate teams in smaller markets en masse, Van Gundy and Jackson both concurred that it is simply not the case.

“They’re going to do what they think is in their best interest to capture the audience,” Van Gundy said of the NBA. “I don’t think it’s on ESPN/ABC or the league; I think their job is different than it is for the teams. The teams are trying to become as good as they can to win championships, and the broadcast team angle is to try and find games and matchups that attract the most customers and consumers.”

Van Gundy pointed back to how the Warriors were hardly featured in the national spotlight prior to the rise of Curry, and now are a frequent part of the schedule and secure multiple showcase matchups. Next season, he expects the San Antonio Spurs to be featured often because of the organization’s expected selection of international sensation Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.

“Players, teams and organizations benefit from the money made and the money spent,” Van Gundy stated. “You can’t take the money and complain about the coverage too.”

As he has expressed in the past, Van Gundy reiterated his belief in condensing NBA games into a two-hour window in order to be more conducive to viewership. He would also consider eliminating free throws until the final four minutes of the game, instead automatically rewarding players for points they would have received on an attempted basket.

Van Gundy also made mention of the length of replay reviews, some of which turn out to be meaningless, and would therefore eliminate them unless it is on pivotal shots at the end of quarters or differences between two-point and three-point baskets. Most notably though, he hopes the league cuts halftime to five minutes, conveying how personnel referring to making “halftime adjustments” is trite and not necessary for the future of the game.

“I do agree with cutting halftime shorter and I believe [that] the replays can be a lot shorter and quicker with decisions made upon reviews,” Jackson replied. “Those two things [in] shortening the game would be two things that I would definitely cosign.”

As the start of the NBA Finals draws closer, media professionals will keep a close eye on the ratings across television and streaming platforms. ESPN reported its most-watched playoffs on its platforms over the last 11 years, averaging approximately 5.8 million viewers through the conclusion of the Western Conference Finals. Last year’s NBA Finals featured the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics, two of the most fiscally valuable and popular teams in the league, and resulted in a 22% increase in viewership from the year prior. This year, the Nuggets and Heat represent a deviation from the norm in that both teams originate from media markets outside of Nielsen Media Research’s top 10 in terms of total size. While devoted basketball fans will surely be intrigued by the superstar matchup of Nikola Jokić against Jimmy Butler, neither analyst is sure it will end up breaking viewership records.

“I hope it’s a resounding success and a celebration of two teams who did a tremendous job navigating their playoff runs,” Van Gundy said. “Even if it’s not the most highly-rated Finals – and I don’t know if it will be or won’t be – but even if it’s not, I think it still speaks well about the league.”

“There’s tremendous stories throughout this Finals, and I echo what Jeff talked about,” Jackson added. “Just give it a chance, and you will be absolutely floored at the product that’s on the floor.”

Each broadcast of the NBA Finals on ABC will be preceded by NBA Countdown featuring Mike Greenberg, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Jalen Rose and Adrian Wojnarowski. Moreover, Thursday’s Game 1 will be accompanied by the NBA in Stephen A’s World alternate presentation featuring Smith and a guest list to be announced on game day.

Michael Smerconish Examines The Decline of Newspapers

BNM Staff
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Michael Smerconish Examines The Decline of Newspapers

Given the rise and acceptance of online media, printed newspapers have become less important in day to day life. Prior information reported by Pew Research says that since 2004, weekday newspaper circulation in the United States has plummeted by 57%. Additionally, newsroom employees in the newspaper industry have dropped by 51% between 2008-2019.

On today’s edition of The Michael Smerconish Show, the death of newspapers was a focus of conversation. The longtime radio and television broadcaster, author, and newspaper columnist expressed sadness after learning a prominent newsstand in Philadelphia had decided to stop selling newspapers. The decision was made due to slumping sales and the news industry’s challenges brought on by the digital age.

“Apart from me feeling nostalgic for the ink rubbing off on my fingers as I’m on a train to Washington, what’s really going on here is that those papers are often the glue that hold together communities,” explained Smerconish. “If nobody is at the school board then you get some of the shenanigans that are happening at school boards across the country.”

Smerconish shared information reported by the Associated Press in 2022 which claimed that newspapers were dying at the rate of two per week. The print industry had six thousand three hundred seventy seven active newspapers in May of 2022, down from eight thousand eight hundred ninety one in 2005. That represents a drop of two thousand five hundred and fourteen over the period of seventeen years.

If those facts weren’t enough to depress you if you’re an advocate for newspapers remaining alive, here’s another. A total of three hundred sixty newspapers have been shut down since the pandemic took place in 2020.

iHeartMedia Tells Staff Not to Use External AI Programs

BSM Staff
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Artificial intelligence has become a hot topic as more people become familiar and play around with the capabilities of programs like ChatGPT. If you work with iHeartMedia though, you better not be doing that on company time.

AllAccess.com obtained a memo from iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman and President/COO/CFO Rich Bressler that explicitly forbids employees from using ChatGPT “without explicit direction from your team lead.”

In the memo, Pittman and Bressler write that the company is developing its own AI solutions. 

“We want to be smart about how we implement these tools to protect ourselves, our partners, our company’s information and our user data,” the memo reads. “For example, if you’re uploading iHEART information to an AI platform (like ChatGPT), it will effectively train that AI so that anyone — even our competitors — can use it, including all our competitive, proprietary information.”  

The memo also states that certain segments of the company are already using AI “with great results.” 

While there is no elaboration regarding the company’s further plans for AI and how it may effect programming staff, Pittman and Bressler do write that they are “excited about expanding that to make everyone’s work faster and more interesting, and allow us all to make the best use of our time by freeing us from our more mundane and rote tasks.”

Max Kellerman: I am ‘100%’ a Boston Hater

BSM Staff
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There was a time when the reaction Max Kellerman had on Tuesday to the Miami Heat winning the Eastern Conference Finals would not have been allowed on any ESPN platform. The network used to require its talent play things down the middle and not acknowledge their own fandom.

Fast forward to 2023, and things have changed. What makes these personalities fans is highly valued by the network, and that is why Tuesday morning, ESPN Radio’s morning show could revel in the results of the previous night’s game.

“Yesterday was a great day in the life of a Boston hater,” Kellerman said. “Which is me one hundred percent. One hundred percent I root against the Boston teams as a New Yorker.”

Max Kellerman is outspoken about his love for the Knicks and Yankees. Seeing another Boston team complete a comeback after being down in a league championship series 0-3 would not have been bearable. 

“Spoken like a true Yankees and Giants fan,” his Keyshawn, JWill and Max co-host Jay Williams said with a smile on his face.

Kellerman wasn’t done though. He called watching Bostonians walk away dejected after getting their hopes so high “so pleasurable to watch.”

“The fact that this thing got to a Game 7 at Boston, no one’s ever done it. They’re going to host the game. Here it comes! They cut the game to single digits. Here it comes! Ooooooh, it’s so good! It’s so good.”

Plenty of ESPN personalities have let their fandom out in recent years. Mina Kimes is so associated with her love of the Seattle Seahawks that her colleagues took to social media to check on her well-being when the team traded Russell Wilson last season. Scott Van Pelt has always celebrated his Maryland Terrapins. Even hate has a place on the network, as Stephen A. Smith regularly makes time to mock the Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry Reinsdorf Acquires Stadium Controlling Stake from Sinclair

BSM Staff
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Jerry Reinsdorf Acquires Stadium Controlling Stake from Sinclair

Jerry Reinsdorf helped launch Stadium in 2017. Now he is in charge again after his Silver Chalice Media acquired a controlling stake in the company in a deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Both Silver Chalice and Sinclair have avoided public comments on the matter.

Sinclair is dealing with the fallout from its Diamond Sports Group filing for bankruptcy. It is continuing its reorganizing efforts to keep the Bally Sports regional networks afloat.

Stadium offers live sports, mostly from college conferences. It also offers studio programming and highlight shows. Programing features several well-known analysts including Shams Charania.

The network, which originates from the United Center in Chicago, is available on digital, cable and over-the-air platforms. It even provides content to some Sinclair stations and Bally Sports networks.

Reinsdorf has explored launching his own regional sports network at various points in the past. The deals between NBC Sports Chicago and the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox are set to expire in October of next year. Those two factors cannot be ignored as the teams’ owner acquires control of Stadium.

Dan Bongino Celebrates Two Years on the Radio with Westwood One

BNM Staff
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Dan Bongino recently celebrated two years on the radio with Westwood One. The network offered a Sunday special of Bongino’s program, highlighting some of the top moments from the past week.

During the sixty minute special, Bongino welcomed former president Donald Trump for a 10-minute chat about political issues. After the Trump interview and an epic rant by Bongino on an issue raised by a listener, a conversation with James Lindsay about cultural Marxism aired.

The program wrapped up with a discussion between Bongino and Westwood One and Fox News host Mark Levin. Bongino credited Levin for taking a shot on him by allowing him to fill in on his national radio show when he had very little experience.

“Maybe I took a shot but you were running for office, and it was obvious to me that you were a few steps above,” said Levin. “You were a cop, secret service, studied philosophy, and I would listen to you talk, and in radio or TV, you either have it or you don’t, and you had it.”

After complimenting him for his loyalty, Levin praised Bongino for his show‘s success, and for his ability to connect with the audience.

“The audience comes first, everything else comes second,” explained Levin. “The company that we work for is wonderful but you can’t interfere with us and our audience. The audience is key, that’s what Rush taught me. They’ll stick with you if you stick with them. Don’t underestimate their intelligence.”

The conversation ended with Bongino and Levin talking about the issues surrounding AM radio. Both agreed that it’s a political issue that has little to do with the frequency where content is being offered. The two men believe it’s a case of corporate executives trying to reduce choice, something that both hosts vehemently reject.

Sad Bill Simmons Photo Inspires Social Media Jokes From Sports Media

BSM Staff
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After an exciting three-game win streak to draw the Eastern Conference Finals even at three games a piece, the Boston Celtics fell short of a full reversal of fortune. The team was beaten soundly Monday night by the Miami Heat in Game 7, sending Jimmy Butler and company to the NBA Finals.

While plenty of Bostonians and Celtics fans mourned the loss, one sports media star became the focal point. A photo of a stunned Bill Simmons went viral as the game slipped further and further out of the Celtics’ reach.

Fans had a field day mocking one of the team’s most vocal celebrity fans. They were not alone. A number of Bill Simmons’s sports media colleagues joined in as well.

The Twitter account @ArtButSports creates content by comparing sports photos to famous works of art. Simmons’s picture was put next to Study Head of an Old Man from the 17th century.

The photo and tweets could not be avoided. They were all over social media and eventually elicited a reaction from Simmons himself, who seemed to take it in good stride.

Dan Le Batard: I Didn’t Know This Version of Mina Kimes

BSM Staff
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Dan Le Batard: I Didn’t Know This Version of Mina Kimes

The new episode of South Beach Sessions starts with real sentimentality, as Dan Le Batard opens his conversation with Mina Kimes by telling her how proud he is of her rise to stardom.

Le Batard noted that when Kimes first started showing up on TV and radio at ESPN, he could see her stress. While he framed it as a standard she held herself to, it seemed clear she felt pressure to be right about every point she made. He noted that, as a man on ESPN, he enjoyed a benefit of the doubt and a level of trust from the audience that Mina Kimes didn’t.

Kimes has been public in the past about the abuse she puts up with on social media. She said it wasn’t as simple fear of racism or sexism that motivated her in that way.

“Certainly, some of it is being an outsider and looking different. That arouses all kinds of feelings in people, not only negative ones,” she said. “Some of it, also, when you’re new, they’re more likely to judge negatively. And that was true, but also, I think, Dan,  in retrospect, I could have gotten stuff wrong and I would have been fine. I could have made more mistakes and been looser earlier in my career and I would have survived.”

She compared the mindset of her early days on television to the way she feels now on the set of NFL Live. She describes the environment as one of true comfort. That has less to do with Laura Rutledge, Marcus Spears, and Dan Orlovsky and more to do with her approach to TV.

“It’s really fun. It’s really easy, and even if it’s not, great. It’s another day and it’s over,” she said.

Dan Le Batard noted that what Mina Kimes has now in her career “is true joy.” While he always enjoyed working with her on The Dan Le Batard Show and Highly Questionable, it is not something he always saw.

“I would say that Mina being that kind of comfortable with the experience was not something that was on Highly Questionable until the end.”

Le Batard has brought several of his favorite Highly Questionable colleagues with him to Meadowlark Media. He has said publicly that he hopes Kimes is next. In February, he tweeted at Bill Simmons that The Ringer will have to get in line behind his company to sign Kimes.

ESPN Hiring Pat McAfee Has Nothing To Do With Layoffs

Garrett Searight
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ESPN Hiring Pat McAfee Has Nothing To Do With Layoffs

Pat McAfee is going to make ESPN a boatload of money, and in return, ESPN is going to pay Pat McAfee a boatload of money.

In the words of the great Bo Burnham, that is how the world works.

So the uproar from media members inside and outside Bristol over his hiring while ESPN is undergoing mass layoffs is ridiculous.

The opportunity to hire someone like McAfee — both from a talent and popularity standpoint — does not come around often. ESPN would have been absolutely bananas to pass on the chance to acquire his services. It would have been an even dumber decision to do it because of the layoffs.

It’s a pretty simple equation: The Walt Disney Company would only do a deal with McAfee if it felt like it could get an ample return on its investment. And what happened?

The right decision was made. Does it suck that there are people inside the company that will lose their jobs over the course of the following days, weeks, and months? Yes, unequivocally, no questions asked.

But they’re not losing their jobs because the company is hiring Pat McAfee, and they likely wouldn’t have kept those jobs if he signed elsewhere. The idea that because McAfee is coming on board meant that an additional department was going to be affected by the layoffs is asinine.

Listen, The Walt Disney Company decided it was going to cut 7,000 jobs a long time ago. Chances are, they decided which 7,000 jobs were going to be cut at about the same time, and those poor souls are working on borrowed time. The hiring of McAfee didn’t turn that number to 7,001.

Earlier this year, Demetri Ravanos wrote a column echoing a similar sentiment. He was right then and is still right today. ESPN is going to spend billions of dollars on the NBA, and that’s ok, too.

ESPN can’t simply reduce its programming because The Walt Disney Company is going to be a bit more frugal going forward. Does ESPN need to be slightly more economical and also efficient? Hell yeah. But they’re still going to be the Worldwide Leader, baby.

And part of carrying that moniker is signing high-profile, once-in-a-generation talent that will drive hundreds of thousands — millions? — of viewers to your network daily.

The hiring of Pat McAfee amid mass layoffs, while unfortunate, are two separate issues. The pearl-clutching needs to stop. It was the best deal for McAfee and the company. Ultimately, the success of his show could create jobs down the line, not take them away.

Do the optics stink? Sure. But bring yourself back to reality and recognize that ESPN still has a business to run, as crass, cruel, and unnecessary as that may seem.

Nick Cellini is Entertaining a 3rd Generation of Listeners in Atlanta

Peter Schwartz
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Growing up in Ohio, Nick Cellini seemed to always be talking about sports, especially at the kitchen table with his father and his brother Vince.

Years later, both Nick and Vince would start receiving paychecks for talking about sports.

“(My father) passed away in the late 90’s but he was like ‘I can’t believe you guys get paid to talk about stuff that we talked about around the kitchen table every day,’” said Nick Cellini, co-host of Cellini and Dimino on 680 The Fan in Atlanta.

Nick was inspired by his older brother’s journey and followed in his footsteps.

They grew up in a tough Italian neighborhood in the inner city of Cleveland, where not many people went to college. Vince decided to write his own story and earned a communications degree from the College of Wooster where he also played football. He went on to become a sports anchor at WJW TV in Cleveland while also hosting a sports talk show on WWWE Radio. He eventually made his way to CNN, becoming a sports anchor there.

If that path could work for his brother, Nick was determined to follow a similar road and that included a degree in communications from the University of Mount Union in 1989.

“He’s eight years older than me, so I watched what he did and I was like ‘ok well, he’s doing that then well I’m going to do it,” said Cellini. “I’m going to go play football in high school and play at a small school in college and be a communications major. So, yeah, he was a major inspiration to me and still is to this day.”

Today, the Cellini brothers are still close as they live in the same neighborhood in Atlanta. Vince certainly has to be proud of his younger brother as Nick has enjoyed a more than two-decades run in Atlanta sports radio, a run will go on for at least a few more years. He and his long-time co-host Chris Dimino signed a four-year contract extension with 680 The Fan last year.

“It’s been incredible,” said Nick Cellini. “As you get older, you have a newfound appreciation for things because you know how challenging this business can be. We’re working on, Chris and I, third generation of people who have been listening to us…it’s crazy.” 

Atlanta is now the Ohio native’s forever home.

“It’s amazing that this town has adopted me as one of their own now,” he said. “I feel like this is my hometown now. I’ve raised my family here and it’s just been an incredible run.”

And through that run, Cellini has been there to talk Atlanta sports fans through the highs and lows of the local sports teams. Over the years, there was a lot of success for the Atlanta Braves including a pair of World Series championships as well as two trips to the Super Bowl for the Atlanta Falcons, including a loss to the New England Patriots when the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead.

“If you do something long enough, you deal with both sides of it,” said Cellini. “You’re kind of a conduit. You sit there and you let the people celebrate and you let them vent.” 

And over the years, the topics of discussion have not only centered around the local teams. As more and more people from around the country have relocated to Atlanta, there has been the need to focus on other teams as well as national stories. As the population of the Atlanta metro area grew from around two million people to the more than six million that live there today, so too did the scope of the daily content on Atlanta sports radio.

“Especially when the local teams aren’t winning because that’s when it really gets challenging. You have to focus on the national stories. But it seems like more people now embrace the local teams because the Braves are winning and maybe it’s because the Falcons had some success. I think now, more-so than ever, we can take the local angle but for a while it was that way.” 

Through many of his years in Atlanta sports radio, Cellini has been teamed with Dimino with their experience together dating back to working at 790 The Zone. 

Over the years, they’ve developed a special chemistry and it’s made them very successful.

“I can honestly tell you that I look forward to coming to work every day,” said Cellini. “It’s more like a family relationship where we can say whatever we want to each other but no one from the outside can say it. We compliment each other because we don’t think the same and we don’t want the same. We’re past the point of any egos. We’re just doing our job. He calls it a stupid little show. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, you don’t. We’re going to be what we’re going to be.”

It was during their time together at 790 The Zone when things unraveled a bit back in 2013. 

Both of them, along with co-host Steak Shapiro, were fired by the radio station after they did a bit that mocked former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason who suffers from ALS. For Cellini, it’s something that he carries with him every day.

“You have to remind yourself that people are listening and you’re talking about people,” he said. “You can have fun but you can’t make it personal or try to be, for lack of a better term, a shock-jock.” 

After he was fired, Cellini issued an apology to Gleason and vowed to donate his first month’s salary to the Gleason Foundation if he was to get another job in radio.

The Gleason family and the Gleason Foundation did reach out to Cellini and accepted his apology.

“I would never want anybody to do something so silly and so stupid but if anybody ever made a mistake like that, my best wish for them would be that they would get embraced and forgiven,” said Cellini. “What Steve and his family did, they didn’t have to do. It was just really incredible the way they reached out to us. I think there is always going to be a bond between us.” 

His 28-month absence from Atlanta sports radio will always be part of Cellini’s DNA but not completely in a bad way. 

“It’s something that I do think about every day and I think about it in a positive way because I know that this can all be taken away,” said Cellini. 

From talking sports at the kitchen table with his father and brother to his successful career in Atlanta and even through a terrible on-air mistake, Nick Cellini has experienced a spectrum of emotions. It’s been quite the ride for Cellini and his family and that journey isn’t over quite yet.

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