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Richard Jefferson and New Media Want Specifics on Debate Shows

“Now when you have guys like JJ [Redick], myself, Draymond, C.J. [McCollum] did a great job, guys now jump in and are like no, no, no, we are not talking broad generalities, we are talking about specifics. For me, that raises the bar on a lot of these shows.”
Ricky Keeler

Published

8 months ago

on

Richard Jefferson

We have seen the back-and-forth debate about old media vs. new media in the news lately involving Draymond Green and Stephen A. Smith. As more and more athletes enter the sports media landscape, all they are asking for from hosts and commentators is to be a little more specific with their takes. That’s what Richard Jefferson says.

Jefferson was on the latest episode of What Did I Miss? With Michelle Beadle podcast. On the episode, the ESPN analyst mentioned that he views himself as part of the first group of players that played as social media was getting popular and they could hear what people said about them: 

“As far as the new media goes, I just think we are the first generation. We are the guys that in the middle part of our careers, social media blew up. Then, we were able to see the Skip’s and Stephen A’s, we watched all of these guys. Guys have been keeping receipts.”

“It’s not to come and say you’re wrong or you’re this. Now, we are entering into the media space. We all have our own podcast. We all have our own social media followings and now we are all financially secure. We are getting into the media space to set the record straight, to give a more honest retired player’s viewpoint. I think that’s where it is going to have a positive effect.”

So, what do athletes like Jefferson want to see from Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, or Colin Cowherd? They want to see the hosts talk about specifics during debates rather than just speaking broadly:

“There are guys in the media like Stephen A. and Colin Cowherd, they have to talk about everything and it’s a f***n skill, but they do use some broad generalities because that’s part of the gig. Now when you have guys like JJ [Redick], myself, Draymond, C.J. [McCollum] did a great job, guys now jump in and are like no, no, no, we are not talking broad generalities, we are talking about specifics. For me, that raises the bar on a lot of these shows.”

“If you aren’t ready to either debate or have a conversation about specifics, it’s not going to look really well. There is a group of athletes that are coming into the media now because we’ve been privy to the social media and the growth of television media from the sports debate side…It’s cool to be a part of the group that’s not tweaking or changing, but having a new type of voice.”

Even though new media is on the rise as more athletes start podcasts and get their voices heard, Jefferson doesn’t think that it means that athletes don’t need Skip or Stephen A:

“You need them because I don’t want to f***n talk about football. That s**t is so hard. They have to talk about everything, so they have to use generalities. I couldn’t do Stephen A.’s job, I couldn’t do Skip’s job. I say I couldn’t as in I don’t want to. That’s where they are so good.

 I think it’s good because I think if we can make basketball more specific, then I think as more football players come in, they become more specific, so the broad talking people have to get more specific, which I think raises the bar for all of these shows because you have a little bit more honesty and you have athletes that have been in this fire of social media for 10-15 years.”

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Sports TV News

PGA Tour Expects Mic’d Players To Be Common For 2023 TV Broadcasts

“This doesn’t need to be a walk and talk like I did. But we can make it what you want it to be.”
Jordan Bondurant

Published

2 hours ago

on

February 1, 2023

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Following the success with Max Homa last weekend, the PGA Tour is planning to mic a player up this weekend at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

According to Sports Business Journal, the Tour is considering micing up a player on either the 14th or 18th hole at Pebble Beach.

“The point of this is that if you want it to just be, they have an air pod on your caddie and they ask him one question, he could elaborate on something,” Homa said in an interview on the podcast No Laying Up. “That would be an improvement. This doesn’t need to be a walk and talk like I did. But we can make it what you want it to be.”

Homa added that he appreciated that the questions he was asked while taking part in the segment were solely on the task at hand and tackling the hole he was on.

“It wasn’t about how it is being a dad, how it is being in contention, it’s about golf,” he said. “This hole. That’s what we wanted it to be.”

CBS received positive reviews for debuting the new segment in their season debut at Torrey Pines last week.

It will be interesting to see if having players mic’d up for a segment will carry into NBC coverage or if it remains exclusively CBS. Have to think that in April at The Masters, if CBS keeps with it, the segment has the potential to be pretty compelling especially if the interview is with a player in contention or even leading.

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Sports TV News

ABC Scores Most Watched NBA Saturday Primetime Game In 4 Years

“The game drew 3.7 million viewers.”
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Published

11 hours ago

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January 31, 2023

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The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night. While the game’s controversial finish left LeBron James and Patrick Beverly upset, executives at the Walt Disney Company had nothing but smiles thanks to the performance of ABC.

The game drew 3.7 million viewers. That means the Celtics’ win is the most-watched game in the ABC Saturday night prime-time window in the last four years. A February 2019 game between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors drew 4.1 million.

Boston also delivered the highest-rated game of the NBA season so far outside of the league’s stacked Christmas Day slate.

NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC is experiencing a nice uptick in viewership this season. Through the weekend, the Saturday night games are averaging over 3.4 million viewers according to an ESPN press release.

That number represents a 16% jump from last season. The edition of NBA Countdown that airs before the Saturday night game is having a good season as well. It’s average audience is up 3% to just under 1.5 million.

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Sports TV News

NHL Ratings on ESPN, TNT Down in 2nd Year

So far this season, games on ESPN and TNT are averaging 373,000 viewers, which is down from 478,000 last season.
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Published

12 hours ago

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January 31, 2023

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Viewership totals from ESPN and TNT show NHL ratings have declined heading into the All-Star break, but there are some extenuating circumstances for the nearly 22% drop.

So far this season, games on ESPN and TNT are averaging 373,000 viewers, which is down from 478,000 last season. However, both channels have increased their linear television schedule, doubling from 27 games to 54.

ESPN has aired 18 games with an average of 402,000 viewers. In the same time period last year, the worldwide leader had only aired seven contests, but garnered 622,000 per game. None of ESPN’s games last season had aired on weekends, while the network has broadcast six games on Sunday this year alone. The 12 games ESPN has aired that weren’t on Sunday have averaged 491,000 viewers.

The 2023 NHL All-Star Game will air on ABC Saturday, and the network is hoping for a lift from last season. In 2022, ratings fell 38% from the previous All-Star Game on NBC, and hit the lowest total since 2009. The NHL Skills challenge saw its largest audience in a decade after airing on ESPN in primetime on a Friday evening. Nearly 1.1 million watched the skills challenge, a 30% increase compared to 2020.

At this time last season, TNT had aired 20 games. Through 36 games this season, the network has seen an average of 359,000 viewers. The network is helped by the 2023 Winter Classic, which took place at Fenway Park on Monday, January 2nd. The afternoon contest saw an audience of 1.78 million, up 31% compared to the previous year.

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