Sports TV News

JJ Redick: ‘I Like Telling Chris Russo He’s Crazy’

“I would consider him a friend, but he comes from a certain era of shock jock sports takes. And I like to combat that.“

Published

12 months ago

December 15, 2022

It’s been a little more than a year since JJ Redick joined ESPN and became a fixture on the popular debate show First Take. Since then, the 15-year NBA veteran has learned quickly how fun it can be to work with talent like host Stephen A. Smith and legendary sports radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.

Redick, in a recent appearance on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, said getting to spar with Mad Dog over various topics is always a treat.

“I respect him, and we’ve had numerous conversations off camera,” Redick said talking about their relationship away from the show. “I would consider him a friend, but he comes from a certain era of shock jock sports takes. And I like to combat that. I like to point out where I think he’s crazy.”

One debate between the two made headlines back in the spring, when Redick mentioned that former Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy was regularly guarded on the floor by plumbers and firemen in his era of the NBA.

Cousy would later respond to that quip by saying “we must have had the best firemen and plumbers on the planet at the time. And I was very proud to play with all of them.”

Redick implied that his comment came off as disrespectful to the older generation of players. But he told Marchand and Ourand that he was trying to offer a hot take.

“Part of the show is to entertain,” he said. “And so if I just said you can’t compare a modern point guard or a modern player with a player in the 50s because modern players play year-round – there’s skills coaches – there’s player development coaches on every staff – they work on their game numerous times – they have all the recovery apparatuses. They are fully invested all the time 100 percent in being great.”

“And you compare that to the 1950s when a lot of players in the offseason had jobs,” Redick added. “They had second jobs, I’m very grateful for everything those players did to lay the foundation for what is now the modern NBA. That’s not particularly entertaining. You know what is entertaining is saying he played against plumbers and firemen. Which is not untrue.”

Still, Redick understood he ruffled some feathers with what he said. But he really didn’t intend to upset Cousy or any other legend.

“I don’t mean it to be disrespectful,” he said. “That whole segment there was so much more context to that conversation but we know that it’s the little, small clips and the little, small sound bytes, which I’m totally fine with, that’s ultimately what goes viral.”

Jordan Bondurant

Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.

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Final SEC on CBS Broadcast Scores Highest-Rated Conference Championship Game

The broadcast of Alabama/Georgia marked the final game in a partnership that began in 1996.

Published

13 hours ago

December 6, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

The final SEC broadcast on CBS turned out to be the most-watched game of the weekend.

The SEC Championship broadcast on CBS averaged 17.519 million viewers, making it the most-watched conference championship game on any network in five years.

Viewership of the telecast peaked at 22.35 million. The game was the second-most-watched college football game of the season so far behind Ohio State/Michigan.

The game also was the most-streamed college football game ever on Paramount+ across households, minutes, and average minute audience.

Jordan Bondurant

Sports TV News

NBCUniversal CEO Mark Lazarus: People Have Said Sports TV Rights Bubble Would Burst for 30 Years

“For 30 years everyone said, the sports [rights] bubble is gonna burst, it’s gonna burst. You’re starting to see rights fees growth moderate.”

Published

13 hours ago

December 6, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

Courtesy: NBCUniversal, Inc.

Value is power when it comes to sports rights, and NBCUniversal CEO Mark Lazarus understands that. It’s why newly completed media rights deals across sports, and college sports in particular, command billions of dollars from networks each year now.

Next TV reported that Lazarus, in a conversational interview with TODAY host Hoda Kotb on Tuesday, said while the price for rights to properties like the NFL, NASCAR, Notre Dame, and the Big Ten are astronomical, the cost is starting to level off in some ways.

“For 30 years everyone said, the sports [rights] bubble is gonna burst, it’s gonna burst,” Lazarus told Kotb. “You’re starting to see rights fees growth moderate.”

Lazarus mentioned that there are no individual content budgets for sports, news, and entertainment at NBCUniversal. Those three divisions have a single budget executives work from. Executives are responsible for finding content audiences will consume and a platform to house it on.

“What’s the best content and where can it be successful in our portfolio?” Mark Lazarus said. “It’s a combination of art and commerce.”

“We reach massive amounts of people, we have reach and scale,” he later added, pointing out the company reaches 65-70 million homes on pay TV and another 30 million on Peacock.

“That’s great for our distribution partners and that’s great for our advertising partners and it’s really important for our audience.”

Mark touted Sunday Night Football, which is a ratings juggernaut and averages 22 million viewers. The NFL streaming on Peacock has also seen strong numbers this season, with this past week’s Chiefs/Packers game having an average minute audience of 1.86 million viewers. That’s between Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms. It marked the second-largest streaming audience ever for a regular-season Sunday NFL game for NBC Sports.

Jordan Bondurant

Sports TV News

CBS Sports Shares Details of Spongebob-Themed NFL Broadcasts

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan.

Published

19 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Jeff Kotuby

Get ready for some Turtles on Christmas and some SpongeBob on Super Bowl Sunday. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are teaming up to deliver two alternate NFL broadcasts this year — one for the Monday night “Nickmas” game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, and then a second, SpongeBob Squarepants-themed broadcast for Super Bowl LVIII.

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan. The live-action hosts will be joined by two groups of Nicktoons depending on the game.

SpongeBob and Patrick (voiced by Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, respectively) will join Eagle and Burleson in the booth for Super Bowl LVIII, while Sandy and Larry the Lobster will provide some additional flair from the sidelines. The Bikini Bottom crew will be joined by Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey, who will explain penalties to the younger viewers. During the “Nickmas” Game on Dec. 25, the crew will be joined by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s Raphael in the booth, while Donatello will join Schefter on the sidelines.

The Christmas Day game will be Nickelodeon’s first regular-season game, as previous Nick alternate broadcasts were all during Wild Card Weekend. Last year, Nick aired an alternate broadcast of Cowboys/49ers, which drew an audience of 41 million viewers. The games have also become a social media phenomenon from adult viewers watching tongue-in-cheek.

The Nickelodeon Super Bowl telecast and Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game are produced by CBS Sports in association with Nickelodeon Productions.

Jeff Kotuby

Jeff Kotuby is a nationally-published journalist with bylines on many popular broadcasting and pop culture sites, including The Streamable, eBaum’s World, Twin Galaxies, and more. Jeff grew up in the shadows of New York City and cultivated his love for sports media with the classic broadcasting voices of the area, like Mike & The Mad Dog, Mike “Doc” Emerick, and Michael Kay. You can reach Jeff on Twitter @JeffKotu3y.