Maybe it is only a gimmick to draw some attention, but NBA TV is serious about airing Sunday afternoon's Houston-Orlando game without broadcasters for the first time.
NBA TV head of programming Steve Herbst said the idea for what its calling "The Silent Game" came from the Magic's end, as they're promoting one of those "hardwood classic" retro-games with throwback jerseys and piping in organ music.
"We decided that, from an NBA TV perspective, we'd try to capture the same feel with some enhanced audio to let the fans at home hear the coaches yelling out plays, the refs making calls, the sounds of the shoes and the snap of the nets," said Herbst. "That's our goal in this exercise. We think it'll be an interesting experiment."
So without a play-by-play man or an analyst, the fans will only be able to follow the game via graphics and the public-address announcer. If there's decent viewer feedback, Herbst said he could see doing this on a regular basis.
On a normal NBA TV game, the network would take the feed from either the Houston or Orlando market telecast and use their broadcasters. The goal here isn't to try to put every NBA broadcaster out of work - although some might say that it could be a nice residual effect.
"We'd never try to do that," said Herbst. "As NBA TV tries to present the game of basketball in many different shapes and forms, we're just trying to see how this falls into that. It may not be for everyone, but we'll see what the reaction is."
If this experiment sounds familiar, it was tried by NBC in 1980 with a New York Jets-Miami Dolphins NFL game to mixed reviews. Last August, the Canadian Football League went several weeks without using play-by-play men or analysts on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation because of a labor dispute. For two weeks, CBC saw its viewership actually go up without the broadcasters.
I think this is a really good idea. It captures the spirit of basketball which nowadays seems lost in a cascade of flashy moves and drowned out by the droning voices of a couple of old men who talk half the time about each other rather than the game at hand. I like announcers that break down the play and show why and how everything happened, not what they ate for lunch that day.
I think its going to fall flat on its face.
They stole this idea from the CFL (Canadian Football League). At one point during the season our commentators were on strike, so they just aired the games without announcers and actually got better ratings.
If they really use the shotgun mikes well, this could be extremely entertaining. Until the FCC gets uptight about the language and some back-bench representative decides to make a Stand for Decency, anyhow.
"Unfiltered on-the-floor NBA smack-talk piped straight into our living rooms? WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?"
The NFL did this once in 1980 for a Jets-Dolphins game. It was pretty boring.
It would be cool if they turned up the volume at court level.
But overall, it sucks.
It is alright but nothing great.
I mentally tune out all the commentators anyway, so I would actually like all games this way.
When you all start threads about how certain commentators suck, or Sean Elliott is so funny, I never really get it because I don't even listen to the broadcast crew.
That sounds interesting.
Boosh!I wish I had nba t.v. I wanted to see that game anyway since Hedo is playing.
it was awesome. i wish the nfl would do this too. the only great announcer i have heard lately is milo hamilton.
Why is this such a big deal? You watch the game without commentators at the arena AND YOU PAY GOBS OF MONEY TO DO IT!
I wish I had seen the broadcast; I don't have NBA TV. It's funny the network chose a game where the ratings were already going to be low.
I like the idea of turning up the microphones near the court to hear the ball bounce, nets swishing, rims clanging, guys talking smack, and etc.
The commentators have a union in Canada? That's really odd.They stole this idea from the CFL (Canadian Football League). At one point during the season our commentators were on strike, so they just aired the games without announcers and actually got better ratings.
Obviously this is a gimmick thrown in at the last minute to make people watch two horrible teams. This is one of those games that looked good in the summer when everyone thought the Rockets were going to be contenders, and that Francis would be there to try to show up his old team.
Yeah, not watching.
I don't think they have their own specific union, but they're part of a much larger one. During that time the CBC locked out all their union employees and it was a pretty big deal up here. Even the cameramen weren't working, so they had to get higher up managers to do all the camera work.
With SAP and digital broadcasting, we might be able to have the choice of what we hear soon. Interesting.
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