Celtics
From next season, all the NBA qualifiers in the first round will be national programs.
Drew Carter and Brian Scalabrine signed Tuesday in their last eliminatory match of the Celtics of the season, if not beyond. Brett Phelps / The Boston Globe
When Drew Carter And Brian Scalabrine Signed Tuesday with a salute to the producer Paul Luceydirector Jim EdmondsAnd the many people behind the scenes on the Celtic emissions from NBC Sports de Boston, they also signed something else.
The dissemination of the Celtics regional sports network ‘ Victory for match 5 of the series match Over the Magic was not only the last match that Carter and Scalabrine call this season, with all the live games strictly national for the second round and beyond.
This is the last eliminatory match for Celtics NBC Sports Boston will have in the foreseeable future, and most likely permanently.
The new 11 years, $ 76 billion The rights agreement starts next season, with the expansion of two main distribution partners (ESPN / ABC and TNT Mother -based companies (ESPN / ABC, NBC and Amazon).
With this, a neglected change when the massive agreement – and the dramatic exclusion of TNT – have been announced: regional sports networks would no longer be authorized to broadcast eliminatory matches in the first round of their local teams. All first -round matches, from next season, will be national programs.
For fans of Celtics who prefer to pass the first round with Carter and Scalabrine – who are anchored in the viewing experience and know the team’s beats much better than national broadcasters – it is disappointing that it will not be an option in the future.
President of Celtics Rich Gothamwhose responsibilities include team navigation and distribution partnerships in the league, said that it understood why fans would feel in this way.
“Drew and Scal and NBC Sports The Boston cover is a large part of the experience of the Celtics fans,” said Gotham. “I feel for them. They are such a large part of who we are and our brand and our family, really. I think our local fans would always choose to connect to the local broadcast if we gave the possibility.”
The data support this. Per Sports Business Journal, when a first round eliminatory match of the NBA was broadcast both locally and at the national level during the 2023-24 season, the local broadcast attracted around 42% of the public. But in Boston, Gotham said, more than 50% regularly look at NBC Sports Boston.
The RSN had a huge year that comes out of the Celtic championship: its game shows have had more viewers than ever this season, and more than the local broadcast of any other NBA team.
But, said Gotham, you sometimes have to compromise. It is understandable, given the additional partner of rights and the request for quality content.
“With the new national television agreement, there are a few realities. One is that there are more mouths to feed,” said Gotham. “These national partners pay a lot of money for the rights of these games, and more money is moved to the region’s professional sports landscape at the National. What follows is that they will want more product.
“The first round of the playoffs is obviously an excellent programming. It is difficult to see NBC Sports Boston to lose this next year. At the same time, this is where the media rights market VA.”
Gotham said that winning matches in the first round of the RSNS has been on the negotiating table for years.
“We have rejected in the past, not wanting to abandon this and wanting to be a good partner for NBC Sports Boston, which is a large part of our business and a large part of our brand,” he said. “Given market trends with local cable subscriptions on the national decline, at this stage, in this particular negotiation, this was more logical than in the past.”
Healey joining the globe
Tim Healey joins the globe as a Red Sox reporter, filling the opening created when Julian McWilliams Party for CBS Sports at the end of spring training. Healey, a graduate of the University of Boston and former Globe cooperative, has covered Newsday dishes since 2018. Previously, he covered the Marlins of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He will start in June… ESPN and ch. 5 has concluded a multi-year agreement with the Boston Athletic Association to continue as national and local distribution partners exclusive to the Boston marathon… has someone spent in recent times to see if Mel Kiper Jr. is still a caterpillar Sheder Sanders? Well, I don’t have it either. The rest is only simulated drafts and steam.