ESPN is set to change two of the three voices on its lead NBA broadcast team, and former ESPN personality Dan Le Batard and his team gave his thoughts on the shuffle.
Le Batard, who left Disney's (DIS) -) sports network ESPN in 2021, spoke on “The Dan Le Batard Show” on Aug. 2 alongside other former ESPN talents in Stugotz and Amin Elhassan about ESPN letting go of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson while reportedly promoting Doris Burke and hiring Doc Rivers.
Le Batard said he watches games “with the sound down” so it makes little difference to him.
“I almost don’t care at all who is broadcasting that you can only get my attention if you are truly awful, and most of the other pieces I view as interchangeable,” Le Batard said.
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Stugotz shared a similar sentiment that the broadcast team has little value to a fan’s desire to watch the game.
“I don’t care if no one’s calling the game. If it’s a game I want to watch, I’m going to watch the NBA game,” Stugotz said. “If you’re going to watch a basketball game, you’re not tuning in because Mike Breen is calling it.”
But Elhassan offered a nuanced perspective in contrast. He alluded to the report from the New York Post about Van Gundy not necessarily being favored by the NBA due to him being openly critical of referees and other league rules during the broadcast.
And Elhassan posited that there’s certain value to how these voices shape the views of NBA viewers, especially when it’s the lead team of the top network.
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“This is the most watched event in our sport, and you’re getting bombarded with negativity, I can see from the league’s standpoint,” Elhassan said. “Our overall perception of the game can be colored by the people who are bringing it to use at the highest profile moments.”
However, the “Dan Le Batard Show” trio agreed that ESPN’s newest broadcast trio will likely perform well.
Elhassan pointed out that “everyone knows” that Burke, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, is “awesome,” and reminded younger folks that Rivers, who called the NBA Finals in 2004 for ABC, also performed well.
