and Nascar races to bring back risk-averse sponsors who put their money into hibernation once the pandemic scuttled the production of live sports telecasts. But NBA play is even more critical than those others, suggests Jon Diament, executive vice president and chief revenue officer of’s Turner Sports. “The NBA has some unique reach among millenials compared to other programs that are out there, and this demo has not been watching a lot of traditional TV,” he says, in an interview.
Both outlets hope to fill the empty seats around the courts in Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex with new sights.will allow some fans to show up on the sidelines and Mike Shiffman, ESPN’s vice president of production, believes fans will get to hear more from individual players and even coaches – so long as the cameras don’t intrude on proprietary conversations that might give away strategy. “You do feel closer to the game and it’s a much more intimate experience,” he notes.