Nationally Exclusive and Extremely Confusing

Mike Breen is the Knicks' play-by-play announcer on MSG.  He's also the lead play-by-play broadcaster on ESPN/ABC's NBA coverage.  So, Mike Breen will be calling plenty of playoff games this season.  But he's also disappointed that he won't be calling any of those games for MSG, which is something he was sure to make clear during the Knicks' final regular season game.  Because this season, for the first time, every NBA playoff game is exclusive to the national TV partners.

Every NBA playoff game being nationally televised is nothing new.  That's been the case for a while.  The only difference this season is that the national broadcasts have exclusivity.  Previously, that was only the case for games on ABC.  For games on cable, each team's local broadcaster would be allowed to produce and air their own broadcast, as well.  That all changed this season, the first under the NBA's new 11-year media rights deal with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon Prime.

It's not a coincidence that they made the change this season.  NBC and Prime paid a lot of money for NBA rights, so it makes sense that they wanted exclusivity as a part of the deal.  But still, I can get the frustration for those local broadcasters, who cover the team all season, then have to give way to the national coverage once the playoffs begin.  Especially since those would probably be among their highest-rated games (which makes a big difference financially).  And not to mention the announcers and crew, who really spend the entire season with the team, but have to sit around and watch somebody else do the most important games of the year.

There are the announcers like Mike Breen, who work on a team's local broadcast crew in addition to their national work and will still get to do playoff games anyway.  But it's not quite the same.  Being on a national telecast obviously has tremendous prestige, but announcers always talk about the connection with the fans in those local markets.  And those analysts who only work for a team and don't have any national TV gigs are limited to just pregame and postgame coverage during the playoffs.

Local announcers in baseball lament the same thing every October.  But, in baseball, local broadcasters have never done their team's playoff games.  (Although, Joe Davis does the Dodgers and Brian Anderson does Brewers games, so fans of those teams may still hear a familiar voice during the postseason.)  Exclusivity for each round of the postseason has always been a part of the national TV contract.  Ditto with the NFL, which, of course, is the only sport where every game is broadcast nationally.

In the NBA and NHL it was always different, though.  In the NHL, it wasn't until about 10 years ago that all first-round games were nationally televised.  Prior to that, fans had to rely on their local broadcaster's coverage to see their team in the first round of the playoffs.  Even now that every Stanley Cup Playoff game is broadcast nationally, the opening round (with the exception of games on ABC) is also broadcast by each team's local crew and both broadcasts are available (which was a fairly recent change from the national broadcast being blacked out in the local markets).

They had a similar setup in the NBA until this season.  For first-round games on either ESPN or TNT, teams were also allowed to have their own local broadcast.  Games on ABC were the only ones that were exclusive.  Then, once the second round started, every game was only broadcast nationally.  It provided fans with a sense of continuity, both from the regular season and throughout the first round.

That, frankly, is the biggest problem with the way the NBA Playoffs have been broadcast so far.  Everybody has exclusivity.  Which is great for them.  But terrible for fans.  Because they have no idea which network the game is on!  Each network has its own night, so depending on when a team is playing, they could be on any of the NBA's four broadcast partners.

ABC has games on the weekend, with NBC getting two games as a part of its Sunday Night Basketball package.  NBC also had doubleheaders on Monday and Tuesday, but one game each night was only available on Peacock (or NBCSN if you're one of the eight people who already gets the relaunched network).  On Wednesdays, it's ESPN.  Then it's Prime on Thursday and Friday.  Oh, and Prime had the entire Play-In Tournament last week.  But next week, that schedule changes and ESPN has more games.

Are you confused yet?  I sure am!  And I don't even watch the NBA, so I don't particularly care which game is on which network on a given night.  But I can only imagine how frustrating it is for a fan looking to watch their team and finding out that they might be on any (or all) of the NBA's national broadcast partners during the series...and having that be their only way to watch the game!  It's almost as fragmented as the WNBA's recently-announced national TV schedule!

Fans of every sport have that same complaint during the regular season.  The leagues are selling off packages to so many different broadcast and streaming partners that it's impossible to keep up.  And not to mention the amount they need to pay for cable/subscription fees just to watch every game!  Missing a game during the regular season isn't that big a deal for most fans.  Missing a playoff game is a different thing entirely, though.  And spreading playoff broadcasts among so many different partners, all of whom have exclusivity, isn't exactly user-friendly.

I get offering playoff exclusivity to each broadcast partner.  But it only makes sense if the national broadcaster is consistent.  Otherwise, it's a disservice to fans.  In baseball, every series is broadcast by the same network with the same announcers.  In hockey, that's the case from the second round forward.  In the first round, games are on either ESPN or TNT depending on the night.  Which is part of the reason why the NHL allows local broadcasts for the first round (and the first round only) of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Until this season, the NBA and NHL did the exact same thing.  Local broadcasters covering their team in the first round alongside the national broadcast before handing it over to the national coverage for the second round.  That system worked and was much more convenient for fans.  However, now that the NBA has gone to national-only, it looks like they're never going back.  And it wouldn't be surprising if the NHL follows the next time their TV rights come up (that's already the case with the Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs).

What's the right way?  It's hard to say.  But there's no doubt it's easier to watch the MLB or NFL playoffs (the Saturday night wild card game on Prime notwithstanding) than the first round of the NBA Playoffs.  That is, unless you've got your channel guide handy.  Then maybe you'll know whether the game is on ABC.  Or NBC.  Or ESPN.  Or Peacock.  Or Prime.  Because that's not confusing at all!