NBC Sports Philadelphia is budgeting to add a courtside voice to its Sixers broadcasts ahead of LeBron James's arrival this season, according to network vice president of content Alexandra Matcham.
The move comes as the network looks to provide extra help with the roster now taking shape, particularly with a generational talent on board. "If you get a generational talent on your team, it could easily become a situation where the people that work for us are burnt out by December, and you don't want that," Matcham said. "You need extra help."
NBC Sports Philadelphia has not had a courtside voice for the Sixers since 2020, when the network began eliminating in-arena and in-game reporting jobs across its properties. The network had used reporters like Serena Winters and Taryn Hatcher to fill that kind of role for years, but they were let go as part of the cost-cutting measures.
The absence of a courtside voice has been felt, particularly in the broadcasts of Alaa Abdelnaby and Kate Scott, which finished 29th out of 30 teams in local NBA announcer rankings last season. Fans praised Scott's professionalism but criticized Abdelnaby as "too much of a homer." Several comments also cited the absence of Hatcher as a drag on the broadcast.
The network is now looking to recreate the exact kind of presence it decided a year ago it could do without. Matcham is deliberate about not defaulting to the title NBC Sports Philadelphia has used for that kind of position in the past. "I'm not even calling it a reporter role because I feel like it's going to give them a stereotype I don't necessarily mean," Matcham said.
The shape of the new role hasn't been decided, and Matcham is open to exploring different options. Among them is bypassing a generalist Sixers reporter altogether in favor of someone hired specifically for James's orbit, someone with an existing relationship built from prior coverage of him rather than of the team broadly.
The network is trying to add to its storytelling in new ways, according to Matcham. This new role will be an attempt to do just that, under different terms. The decision to add a courtside voice is seen as a way to provide extra help with the roster now taking shape, particularly with a generational talent on board.
The network's decision to add a courtside voice is a significant one, particularly with LeBron James set to join the team. It remains to be seen how this new role will be shaped and what kind of impact it will have on the broadcasts. One thing is certain, however – the network is looking to provide extra help with the roster now taking shape, and this new role is a key part of that.
Source: Yahoo Sports