Tuesday marked a major moment for the future of sports streaming. Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, and Fox announced that they will combine their programming in a new streaming package option. Through the new offering, subscribers will unlock access to the ESPN universe of channels, TNT, TBS, and many more channels. Each of the three parent companies will own one-third of the new venture. Cumulatively, the three companies own a major portion of the sports broadcast rights for the NBA, MLB, and NHL. The new arrangement will also unlock non-exclusive broadcast opportunities for premium events on the cross-platform experience. Disney boss Bob Iger celebrated the moment, saying, “The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business.”

LeBron & the Lakers to Wear Kobe-designed Black Mamba Uniforms

The Los Angeles Lakers will suit up in the Black Mamba uniforms co-designed by the late Kobe Bryant against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. Before the game, there will be an official unveiling of a memorial statue of Bryant at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena. The jerseys will feature a snakeskin-like black design and drop shadows on the jersey numbers, a homage to the Lakers uniforms from Kobe‘s rookie season in 1996-97. The jerseys will also include “LA 24” on the belt and Nos. 8 and 24 under the flap of each side of the shorts. Bryant, who won five championships with the Lakers, will be the seventh in team history to be commemorated with a statue, joining Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Chick Hearn.

Knicks Duo Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart Launch New Podcast

New York Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart are taking their bromance from the court to the microphone with a joint podcast. Titled The Roommates Show, new episodes are slated to drop every Thursday. The longtime friends won a national title at Villanova in 2016. After Hart graduated, Brunson picked up another two years later. The two reunited after Hart was traded to New York last season and subsequently signed a new deal with the Knicks ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.

Snapchat & NFL Team Up to Show Off New Tech at Super Bowl

The NFL and Snapchat are teaming up to integrate new technology at Super Bowl LVIII, the social media company revealed to Boardroom on Wednesday. As part of the new tech, stadium screens will project various custom lenses, such as Las Vegas-themed helmets on fans for both the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. The partnership will also feature top social media stars and creators like Jack Settleman and Brittney Elena on-site to help capture the fan experience. New Snapchat technology will also be integrated throughout the week leading up to SBLVIII, with an AR mirror at NFL House, the players’ official hospitality space inside Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas.

Boardroom’s Shlomo Sprung has all the details on the new NFL x Snapchat partnership.

Usher Releases ‘Past Present Future’ Tour Dates

Usher is set to hit the road later this year. With his ninth studio album arriving Friday and a Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show performance two days later, the R&B legend’s “Past Present Future” tour kicks off on Aug. 20 in Washington, DC, and includes stops in Detroit, Oakland, and Miami, before wrapping up in Chicago on Oct. 29. The general on-sale begins Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. local time at livenation.com. There are also presales by Citi and Verizon, which begin Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time and run through Sunday at 10 p.m. Select VIP packages will also be available that include a meet and greet with Usher, a premium ticket, and other gifts.

League One Volleyball & Tonal Announce Partnership

League One Volleyball (LOVB), the largest organization in youth volleyball, announced a partnership on Wednesday with strength-training brand Tonal to bring volleyball-specific training programs to consumers. The LOVB and Tonal union hopes to “fill a gap that exists today in the smart gym space, providing volleyball-specific workouts and exercises branded by LOVB and available through Tonal.” In addition to setting up Tonal machines in workout rooms, the joint collab will also provide community-friendly programming available to all of LOVB’s participating club members.

The post Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney & Fox Combine for Momentous Sports Streaming Package appeared first on Boardroom.

Even if you don’t know Adam Lefkoe, you know Adam Lefkoe.

You can’t escape the superstar sports broadcaster these days, who is all over the place as he juggles preparation for the start of the NFL Draft on Thursday while also hosting one of the most popular media shows — NBA on TNT — during the heat of the postseason. This year’s draft is a bit more special, however, as Lefkoe is preparing to host his 10th B/R Gridiron NFL Draft Night show, set to stream exclusively on the B/R app and B/R YouTube channel on Thursday, April 27 at 8 p.m. ET.

Like NBA on TNT, Gridiron NFL Draft Night is unique in that it’s one of just a few shows to feature current NFL stars to provide real-time analysis with each pick. This year, he’ll be joined by active players Micah Parsons, AJ Brown, Kirk Cousins, and Calais Campbell. 

Ahead of what is sure to be a busy weekend, Boardroom chopped it up with Adam Lefkoe to hear what he has to say about the NFL Draft, the NBA Playoffs, his Philadelphia sports fandom, the emerging world of Web3, and more.

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GRIFFIN ADAMS: You really had to grind your way through the industry to get to where you’re at today. What’s driven you throughout the journey?

ADAM LEFKOE: The first thing that came to my mind when you said that was there’s this notion of self-belief. What I mean by that is I always thought that I could do it. And I always had people that were like, “Oh, you want to do sports TV?” And I would say, “Yeah, that’s what I want to do.” And so when you’re kind of on that journey — I think I did like five and a half years of local news — there’s a lot of moments where you’re like, “I don’t think I want to do this anymore.” But you realize what you’ve said to people. You’ve said, “No, this is what I want.” And so, that pressure that I put on myself and the notion that other people were expecting that out of me, that kind of kept me going.

There was a point in Louisville, Kentucky, where I thought I wanted to leave television and go into radio. There was a time when I thought that I wanted to become a feature producer and not be on-air. There were times at the early stages of Bleacher Report when I just didn’t know if I really enjoyed it, just because there’s always gonna be a moment of the grind — some combination of your personal life and work that you’re working a lot, but maybe it’s not fulfilling. It’s not hitting that creative bone in your body where you’re challenged and at the same time, you feel like people are even watching you. That was really tough in different parts, where it was like — you do all this work and then you get done, and then there’s no response. That’s when you realize, man, this is tough. But I think I’ve had a lot of really good family and friends in my corner that have always supported me and I think that I very early on kind of established — I’m doing this shit.

GA: Having to juggle time between your NFL show and NBA on TNT, do you prepare any differently for one show than the other?

AL: When I was doing the podcast with Chris Sims and then when it became The Lefkoe Show, I actually wanted to treat the NFL like the NBA. And I would argue, if you really do look back, myself and the producer, Josh Frick, when we started doing the Simms & Lefkoe Instagram handle, B/R Gridiron hit us up and they were like, “Can you explain to us what your philosophy is?” And it was all player-centric. It was all storyline-focused because a lot of NFL coverage — we thought — was very team-specific and fantasy-specific. And now, I look at the NFL and it’s very personality-driven, which is always what I thought the NBA was.

In terms of covering it, I think that as the host I need to know your team and I need to know truly what they’re going through and have the information. I can’t go on there and not know that Baker Mayfield is in line to be the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Bucs and how that might make Bucs fans feel. Or know the last time that three tight ends went in the first round of the NFL Draft.

So, I overprepare for NBA on TNT, the NFL Draft. … I treat ’em both the same. I treat ’em like an open-book test where I fill up with a lot of information, and let’s say I have 15 nuggets for every player. What I’ve learned over the years is that if I give out all 15, I’ve talked too much. And I have to be OK, maybe giving two, and I have to kind of know ahead of time what are the two that I value the most because I’m gonna want to hear from Renner, I’m gonna want to hear from Felder, I’m gonna want to hear from Parsons or Cousins or Calias Campbell, or AJ Brown. And so, I know in both situations, it’s not about me, but I need to prepare in case somebody says something or there’s an opportunity to kind of add some context.

GA: I really like the open book thing. Is that something that was passed down to you or something you developed over the years?

AL: The first time I realized that, I was working in Louisville, Kentucky, and we were covering the Breeders Cup. I prepared for two months and I had seven nuggets for every horse in every race. And then I went on TV and my hits each time were 30 seconds long and I got out one nugget. I realized that you have to understand the job that you’re preparing for and what is going to be asked of it.

The other thing that really made me understand prep was watching Ernie [Johnson] and seeing his sheets. I would ride with him, like a car with the talent team to an event and I would just see a stack of papers. I realized that he had all these notes and he might not get to ’em [all], but if Chuck said something, “Man, I wonder what the next three games are gonna be,” Ernie had to have that.

So, I started looking at what nuggets and notes he always had, or I’d watch him on TV and I would close my eyes and I would listen to what he said and I’d go, “Oh, he brought up their record when losing at halftime.” “Oh, he brought up their record when holding an opponent under 100.” And so what I started doing was: Any time he said a stat, I was like, “That’s an interesting one.” And they might not hold a team under 100. I may have looked up that, I may have spent five minutes finding that, and it was a complete waste of time, but if they did, that’s interesting.

Kind of listening to him and following the way he works really kind of showed me a roadmap map for the way to prepare.

GA: Ahead of hosting your NFL Draft show, how do you feel about this year’s class?

AL: I think for this draft, I think this: I think mock drafts are gonna be the most incorrect this year than they’ve ever been because I do not think anyone even knows the order of the quarterbacks. Usually, at least we have that and we know which teams want a quarterback. Secondly, every single one of the top quarterbacks has a huge flaw that teams are gonna have a hard time with. I believe that there are gonna be a number of the players — the rumor right now is that there’s 15, 16 players that have first-round grades for a lot of NFL teams, which means that there’s not a lot of super high-end guys. I think guys like Bijan Robinson, I think guys like Jalen Carter go a lot higher than people think.

And I actually believe that the quarterbacks are gonna fall a little bit and I think it’s gonna shock people. I just want to remind everybody of that 2018 draft when we had five first-round quarterbacks — four in the top 10 — and every one of them was seen as a lock. Lamar, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, and Sam Darnold. And right now we’re sitting here [and] Lamar Jackson can’t even get a contract; Josh Allen is the only one that’s kind of done it. And Baker and Sam Darnold, and Josh Rosen is not even in the league.

So, I think it’s a crapshoot and I, but I think that leads to a really fun night of after every pick sitting there and going, “What’s going on right now [hypothetically] with CJ Stroud?” I think that’ll be fun.

GA: The draft certainly won’t be short on the drama. What’s it like having NFL players join the show to help break down each pick in real time?

AL: Having active players on our draft show completely changed the experience last year. Reacting live to AJ Brown getting traded with Jason Kelce was truly a moment where I forgot I was on camera — and as an Eagles fan, we lost our minds. Realizing that the Eagles drafted Jason Kelce’s replacement and going, “Jason, what do you think of this pick?” And then realizing and going, “Oh man, I’m sorry.” It’s not just people breaking it down. There’s a human element to it.

The fact that we have Kirk Cousins on this draft and there are a number of draft analysts saying that with that No. 23 pick, there’s a chance the Vikings could go quarterback. That could be insane. The thing, though, is these guys are such professionals that they can handle any moment. But we had Cam Jordan come on, and when Kyle Pitts got drafted to the Falcons, he said he was gonna separate his head from his body. When Robert Griffin was on and Kellen Mond was drafted, he said he’s gonna replace Kirk Cousins. That was not a good take.

I think for a lot of these players, the thing that I get excited about, is Bleacher Report, the draft show has actually launched a few media careers. Jason Kelce was on last year, and now he has one of the most popular podcasts in the country. And that sort of was validation. RGIII got the job at ESPN like a week after he was on our draft show. It used to happen all the time where guys would come on our podcast and then the other networks would pick ’em up. So, it’s been very cool to see athletes look at our draft show and go, “This might be a launching pad for my broadcasting career.” I love helping out athletes like that. I love helping them with their second career and their second life and the good ones I’ll pour into. Because if you got it, man, not everyone has it.

GA: So speaking of your Eagles fandom, how are you feeling about the recent Jalen Hurts extension?

AL: I like to think about the contract that they gave to Carson Wentz and then how that turned the locker room inside out because they didn’t believe he was truly a leader. And then to see the reaction towards Jalen Hurts getting the contract and what that does to the rest of the franchise. I’m looking at the Giants right now and all they’re dealing with. Daniel Jones got a contract, Saquon [Barkley] didn’t — Saquon’s not coming to camp. You’re not seeing that in Philly. The Philly Eagles’ players are going nuts right now cause they love it.

The other thing is, is that Eagles fans need to appreciate the fact that Jeffrey Lurie is willing to pay guaranteed money. Year after year, they’re able to sign guys late in the offseason like James Bradbury, because he’s willing to go, I’ll guarantee this deal. I’ll guarantee Kelce’s deal. And to give so many guarantees to Jalen Hurts is freeing up salary cap year after year to where I think the Eagles might be one of the few teams with a big quarterback contract that can still put good players around him.

The thing that people don’t realize about NFL owners and owners, in general, is we’re starting to get to the point where it’s a family business. And a lot of these owners are the children of other owners. They do not have their own financial freedom. Their finances are the franchises. The Bengals — it’s gonna be tough signing Joe Burrow. The Cardinals, the Bidwill family.

What Jeffrey Lurie did, it’s a little bit like Steve Ballmer, Robert Kraft. The owners that are willing to spend money can then open it up to keep it going. And I mean, you’re seeing it in Buffalo. They gave Josh Allen that huge contract and then they lose their best linebacker and an offensive lineman. So, I was very pleasantly surprised and I’m thrilled they got it done before Herbert and Burrow got a contract.

GA: Is there a player you hope falls to the Eagles at No. 10?

AL: They are No. 10 and No. 30. So the fun pick is Bijan Robinson. The best player that I heard from some people that I trust, if he starts to fall a little bit, they might move up and get him is Jalen Carter, the defensive lineman from Georgia. And if you are putting him and Jordan Davis together for the next four years, that’s the position they care about the most. Those are the two that’ll probably make me the happiest.

Other positions, if a cornerback fell like a Christian Gonzalez — I don’t think he will — but that would make sense. If they went the [Peter] Skoronski kid out of Northwestern, the guard. And then, that depends on how many years Jason Kelce has left. If they know that Jason Kelce’s gonna play one more year and you draft a guard, and then next year you move Jergens to center, then you’re solidified for the next four years, that’s pretty good.

But I want to leave this draft with at least one pass rusher. I think it’s the one part of the Eagles, everyone says they’re deep. Brandon Graham is coming to the end. Fletcher Cox is coming to the end. Derek Barnett’s coming off of an injury and they lost Javon Hargrave. This is a team that had 70 sacks last year. They need another D-line.

GA: Alright, transitioning to the NBA here for a second. Don’t worry, we’ll get to our Sixers in a second, but before that, what have been your thoughts on the NBA Playoffs thus far? Feels like a lot has happened in such a short amount of time.

AL: I had to remind myself that last year, it was like a 20-point win and then it would be a 20-point win for the other team. And [this year] wasn’t great until towards the end, every single night, with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. We’re sitting there — the last shot, Trae Young hits a buzzer-beater in Boston. The Grizzlies-Lakers game goes to overtime and LeBron hits a three-quarter-court shot and it almost goes in at the buzzer. Minnesota-Denver came down to multiple buzzer-beaters. The only one that was a sweep was the Sixers. I mean, even the Suns-Clippers games, even though it was a 4-1 end, they were thrilling.

What really gets me excited is to see the young guys step up, that’s what I get excited about. I thought Anthony Edwards was phenomenal in that series. I love seeing Trae Young get trashed all year and then take it to a whole other level. Devin Booker and that Clipper series, averaging 37, 5, and 6. Incredible. De’Aaron Fox — hopefully he’s healthy with that finger — what he’s been like in the Warriors series. It gives me a lot of hope and excitement for the years to come. Jimmy Butler with 56 against the Bucks. I still think the Bucks are gonna make it a series just like I like the Warriors when they were down 0-2. I think Steve Kerr is 14-4 in Game 5s. He’s just — that’s a different level of a team.

I think the fact that we’re sitting here now and we still don’t have a real favorite The team that I thought was the favorite just lost to Atlanta at home. And Phoenix, you’re going, man, their bench isn’t that deep. So, every team kind of has a little bit of an Achilles heel. Bucks, Giannis is hurt. Sixers, Embiid is hurt. But they’re still battling through, so I have a feeling that it’s gonna be a really spicy conference finals and Finals.

GA: I said we’d get to the Sixers, so I’ll get to it: How you feelin’ about this year’s team?

AL: I’ve been negative all year. [laughs] I mean, they start off the year 0-2 and that’s sort of when I was like, I’m not putting my emotions into this team. I think the thing that scares me, other than the fact that Embiid is hurt, is that James Harden, when he drives is not the same guy. He’s not getting to the free-throw line. He’s not finishing around the basket. And I think that Nets team — Sure, you know, after the All-Star break with all those pieces, they fought really hard and they kept the six-seed over the Heat. They’re just not a good team. They’re not at the level of the Boston Celtics. And so I have gone into this year thinking I have zero expectation.

All I want is for Embiid towin the MVP. If they do anything, I am happy to be proved wrong. I remember when the Raptors won the championship and they beat us, but like, everyone would be like, could the Raptors do it? And I would just say no, because until you prove it to me. I’m happy being right six years in a row, and then maybe I’m wrong in the seventh year.

But the one thing I will say about the Sixers team that makes my heart full is that they finally have some dogs. PJ Tucker. Milton. Maxey. Paul Reed. We haven’t had guys like that. For a long time, we never got those loose rebounds, man. We never fight. And I said from the beginning, the reason I love PJ Tucker was I was tired of Embiid being the toughest dude on the team. I don’t think your star should be the guy that fights people. And now, I think they have a few other people that will fight people.

But in the end, I don’t get my emotions up for Doc Rivers or James Harden. They’re just, when all is said and done, we know what their book is gonna say about their playoff legacy. So, I hope they prove me wrong. It would be the No. 1 thing I’d love to be wrong about.

GA: Earlier, you mentioned Philly’s favorite team in the Boston Celtics as your potential title favorite. Do you still feel that way after their Game 5 loss?

AL: Yeah, because I think that they have four or five guys that can take people off the dribble. I think they have three or four deep at big man, especially when you include Grant Williams — you can throw him on Embiid and Giannis. But with Horford and Robert Williams being healthy, I think that they also have … they’ve all been there.

The one team that I keep thinking that people wrote off last week, and they’re back in vengeance are the Warriors because [Andrew] Wiggins is only to get more comfortable, and Klay [Thompson] and [Donte] DiVincenzo kind of coming into his own, and it is Steve Kerr and Steph Curry. That’s dangerous, man. I would lean Celtics right now, but the Suns and the Warriors are the other teams that I have circled as like — they could win it.

GA: Alright, pivoting again, this time to Web3. Walk us through your journey into the space and how it will evolve alongside sports moving forward.

AL: This really started during the pandemic. All of a sudden, Web3 exploded, and NFTs and all that. That’s when everybody got into it, right? I hit up my bosses and I was like, “If we’re doing anything on this, I’d love to be a part of it.” And they connected me with two guys, and we just had a meeting one day and I said, “Guys, the thing is everybody’s trying to make money off of this. I would just love for us to truly create utility and access because I’m hearing a lot of money grubbers out there.” And I would much rather it be something that is for the fans.

The thing I always thought: I was that sicko that would watch NBA on TNT until 1:45 in the morning on the East Coast. And I would know all the bits and I would know EJ’s Stat of the Night. So what I thought was, I would love to find a way to reward the people that are truly fans of the show. Last year, I went to the Western Conference Finals — I went to Dallas and I went to San Francisco for that Golden State-Dallas series. There are hundreds of people out there and they’re live. They’re getting to high-five Shaq and get an autograph from Barkley. What I thought was how cool would it be if the people that watched until 1:30 in the morning were the ones that got to come to something like this? I think that’s the future that we’re kind of thinking is when it’s All-Star Weekend, when it’s a conference finals, how can we give access to those people?

How can people collect moments, build up their wallets, and communicate with other fans of the show? And it’s not just Twitter, it’s not just a Reddit, but it’s its own private little safe space of NBA on TNT inside the NBA fans. And the thing that I’m excited about is when it gets to that level where we give access, where maybe you get to see the studio. Where maybe you get to come in, maybe we send you one of the rundowns autographed by people or a video from Candace Parker. To me, that is the future of all of this — how do we become the first show to really break down that fourth wall and communicate with the fans?

I’ve always thought that the NBA on TNT was revolutionary in the way that it listened. They were the first show that I ever saw that started putting tweets on TV. They were the first show where they would be talking about something, but then a fan would tweet something in and they’d just start talking about the fan. We’re not afraid to listen to our audience. And when I heard people talk about Web3 — which was all about open source, shared community — the ethos aligns, you know? I don’t really care if y’all make money; I don’t get paid any different. But in terms of connecting with the audience, that was the No. 1 thing that attracted me to doing something like this. I think it’s been fun. I think the audience and the community have been great.

GA: Last question here for you before letting you go. Obviously, we’re big sneaker people over at Boardroom. We always see you dropping heat on the set, so I’m curious: Have anything in store for the rest of the NBA Playoffs here?

AL: If you notice, the Tuesday show has a hole in the desk and the Thursday show does not. When we were coming up with it, I was like, “Hey guys, I wanna wear some fire kicks and I’d like for the audience to see it.” Because that’s part of our culture right now. I just did Pat McAfee’s show and he is like, “Man, we see you!” and “You got him on a box and everything.”

When I figure out what I’m gonna wear, I start with the sneakers. Because that’s how I get dressed when I go out. I figure out, hey, I wanna wear the Wotherspoons. I don’t pick a sweater: I ask myself what goes with those? One of the most fun things I do is I sit down with a few of my friends that are big sneakerheads or that work at different companies in that world, Stadium Goods designers and stuff like that, and we just come up with what 10 sneakers would we like to see?

We had a show on Valentine’s Day this year and I ended up rocking the Valentine’s Day Nike Dunks that came out this year. I was actually upset because I had two sneakers that I wanted to wear, but I could not get them in time. One of them was Joe Freshgoods’ “No Emotions Are Emotions,” which is like a Joe Freshgoods x New Balance collab, a red and pink one. Can’t find it anywhere. And the only one I could find was $8,000 and I was not about to pay that. And then the other one was the Strangelove Dunks. Anytime I was walking in Soho and anytime I pass a sneaker store, I just go in and I go to that back case where it’s always the expensive ones and they had ’em in there for like a really good price in my size. I didn’t realize how beautiful the material was. Because sometimes, man, the quality’s not that good, but the quality of that was so nice.

But one of my favorite parts of the year is sitting down in June with my friends and being like, what 10 kicks? My friend, Adam Kaufman — he works over at Stadium Goods — he was the one that pitched the Chinese New Year’s and I didn’t even really know about that shoe. And then just looking into it and looking at the history of that and then getting them in-hand and seeing them, and I was like, “Oh, this shoe was fire.”

What’s very funny is now that I’ve done this for three years in a row, I always buy them and I go, “Oh, I’ll sell it afterward.” And then I’ve just kept all of them. I don’t give any of them back. Once I get ’em, I can’t let go. It becomes a part of the rotation, but yeah, man, it’s the best.

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The post From the NFL Draft to the NBA Playoffs, Adam Lefkoe is Always on appeared first on Boardroom.

Warner Bros. Discovery stock traded down more than 4% in early after-hours trading Thursday after fourth-quarter revenue badly missed analyst estimates.

Fourth-quarter revenue came in at $11.1 billion — well short of the $11.36 billion estimates — while quarterly losses came in at a total of $2.1 billion, or 86 cents per share. In a cool and reduced advertising market, flagship channels within WBD’s TV network such as TNT, TBS, and Discovery dipped 6% in revenue to roughly $5.5 billion.

Last year’s Warner Brothers-Discovery merger led to a mountain of debt, $45.5 billion of it compared to an estimated $3.9 billion of cash on hand. Reducing debt, cutting down costs, and further emphasizing streaming will be major company priorities in the coming fiscal year.

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“With the major restructuring decisions behind us, this year we are focused on building and growing our businesses for the future, and we’re off to a great start,” WBD CEO David Zaslav said in the company’s earnings release.

Streaming revenue was up 6% in Q4, with an add of 1.1 million subscribers on its HBO Max and Discovery+ platforms. While streaming lost the company $217 million in the quarter, that’s $511 million less than in the previous year-over-year period. Lower TV licensing deals and fewer theatrical releases, including the box office bomb Black Adam, which lost a reported $50-100 million, contributed to a 23% decrease in its studio revenue.

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The post Warner Bros. Discovery Misses Big on Quarterly Revenue appeared first on Boardroom.

Brian Anderson will call play-by-play for the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 20, Turner Sports announced on Tuesday. It’ll be the 51-year-old’s first time calling TNT’s signature regular season event, and he will do so alongside color analysts Draymond Green and Candace Parker, the first woman to ever serve in that role for an NBA All-Star Game.

It’s part of Anderson’s continued ascent at the network since he began calling playoff baseball on TBS in 2008. He has since called more MLB postseason series, including the League Championship Series, as well as the golf special series The Match, and year-round coverage of the NBA. He also serves as a play-by-play voice for the Milwaukee Brewers on Bally Sports Wisconsin.

“It’s an honor and I’m thrilled that they called on me, and happy to be a part of that coverage,” Anderson told Boardroom.

With in-game interviews and a more laid-back feel, Anderson likened it more to The Match than a regular game.

“It’s a good chance to see these guys’ personalities,” he said. “I can’t wait to be a part of it. I go where they tell me to go, and I’m really happy to be called on to do this game.”

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Anderson had a front-row seat at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14, 2021 when Stephen Curry broke the all-time made 3-pointer record for the Warriors against the Knicks. As fate (or karma) would have it, Anderson will call Tuesday’s game on TNT between the Lakers and Thunder, with LeBron James 36 points from passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s all-time scoring record — the sport’s most hallowed individual feat.

It’s the potential for yet another iconic moment that makes Anderson’s job so fun.

“All those years when I was calling minor league baseball, I had a lot of great moments too, but nobody cared about them,” he joked. “For us as announcers, we know that our voice is going to be on these calls, these moments. There’s a lot of pressure there that you don’t want to screw these things up. You want to make sure that you don’t ruin the moment, but at the same time, it’s easier because it really is about the player in the moment.”

Anderson takes a minimalist approach to these types of moments, keeping the calls simple, from his perspective. It’s more about calling what happens, without any scripted plan for a gimmicky phrase. He prefers to get out of the way, letting his broadcast crew ensure that the sound and images can tell the story.

“This is unique in that it’s one of the all-time greatest records, and it’s possible that it’ll never be broken,” Anderson said. “We all understand the power of the moment and where it stands in the history of sports. It blows me away to be able to be behind the mic for a moment like this.”

With the All-Star Game and possibly LeBron’s record-breaking game adding to Anderson’s growing role as the network’s biggest voice, he said it means a lot that the company puts this kind of trust in him.

“What it boils down to from the very early days was developing trust, and you really can’t advance in your career until you have the trust of your bosses,” Anderson said. “To be trusted with moments like this, games like this, events like this, it’s very satisfying. I don’t take it for granted. It’s humbling to me. One of these days I’ll sit back and think more about it, but I don’t dwell on it because I still have a job to do and we’ve got a game to call.”

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The post Brian Anderson’s Ascent Was Built on Trust & Storytelling appeared first on Boardroom.

We throw around words like “legend” and “icon” a bit too much, don’t we? Chalk it up to stan culture, the reductiveness of social media, or ever-shortening attention spans.

But as it relates to a basketball titan like Candace Parker, you ought to err on the side of using both of those words as much as possible, because that’s how damn impressive her hardwood oeuvre truly is. How about:

• Two WNBA MVP awards
• Two WNBA championships
• 2016 Finals MVP honors
• Seven WNBA All-Star teams
• 10 All-WNBA teams (seven First, three Second)
• The 2020 Defensive Player of the Year award
• Two Olympic gold medals
• Two NCAA championships
• Two consensus NCAA National Player of the Year awards

Yeah. So… is there an even bigger superlative than simply “legend” or “icon”?

Plenty of effusive ink has been spilled about CP3 over the years dating back to her rise to dominance with the Tennessee Volunteers, to be sure. She made more news in the early stages of 2023, however, when she opted to leave her hometown Chicago Sky, with whom she won her second career WNBA title in 2021, to join up with A’ja Wilson with the Las Vegas Aces in free agency.

That got us thinking — what does it cost to get a future Hall of Famer at the tail end of her professional career to flee the nest and sign on the dotted line? Let’s take a look at the numbers behind the Aces’ Candace Parker contract.

Candace Parker Contract Details & Salary

All dollar figures via Spotrac.

Years: 1
Total value: $100,000
Free agency: 2024

If you think Candace Parker deserves more than a simple hundo-grand for her contributions in Vegas this season, consider that she’s one of the most famous, prolific Adidas Basketball athletes there is, and that sort of deal comes with a healthy direct deposit. She recently launched her second signature “ACE” collection with the Three Stripes, and her relationship with the company

And this is not even to mention her budding role as a commentator with Turner Sports as part of TNT’s NBA coverage. Suffice it to say that CP3 is going to stay plenty busy even after she opts to call it a career on the hardwood.

Whenever that may be.

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Candace Parker’s Career Earnings

Salary data via Spotrac.

Due to the WNBA’s fledgling relationship with organized labor back when Candace Parker’s professional career began, we don’t have a proper accounting of her on-court earnings from her rookie season in 2008 with the Sparks through her final season with LA in 2015, to say nothing of her overseas stints with Ekaterinburg (Russia), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), or Xinjiang (China), where the salary ceilings are massively higher than what the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement allows.

That said, let’s examine the data starting in 2016, the year in which Parker won the first of two WNBA championships to date.

WNBA SALARY EARNINGS 2016-2022: $960,500

• Los Angeles Sparks (6 seasons, 2016-20): $575,500
• Chicago Sky (2 seasons, 2021-22): $385,000

ESTIMATED WNBA SALARY EARNINGS THRU 2023: $1,060,500

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The post Candace Parker Contract & Salary Breakdown appeared first on Boardroom.

After a 20-year NBA career with three Sixth Man of the Year awards, Jamal Crawford is joining Warner Bros. Discovery as an analyst for the NBA on TNT and NBA TV, the company announced Thursday.

Crawford will replace Dwyane Wade as a studio analyst for the NBA on TNT Tuesday alongside Adam Lefkoe, Shaquille O’Neal and Candace Parker when the weekly show makes its season debut in January.

Beginning on Oct. 27, he’ll feature regularly on NBA TV Center Court, a weekly national game broadcast on NBA TV with unique camera angles, advanced analytics, and social media integration. He’ll also regularly appear on NBA TV’s signature studio show NBA GameTime beginning on opening night, Oct. 18.

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The 42-year-old made a strong impression as a guest TNT NBA analyst and was a regular contributor alongside Quentin Richardson on NBA Hooper Vision on NBA League Pass, which Boardroom profiled in March. The league announced last season that former NBA star and fellow Seattle native Nate Robinson would replace Crawford on Hooper Vision.

Crawford holds the NBA record for the most four-point plays with 55, is the oldest player in league history with a 50-point game, and is the only player ever to accomplish that feat with four different franchises. His pro-am league Crawsover in Seattle is one of the biggest summer basketball tournaments in the world and he’ll no doubt remain a must-follow on Twitter as he expands his analyst role to the national stage.

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The post Jamal Crawford Joins TNT and NBA TV as Analyst appeared first on Boardroom.

The 2022-23 NBA schedule is here, with the league’s top players and teams returning to the court and looking to dethrone the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

The season opens on Oct. 18 with the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics visiting the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Warriors heading to Crypto.com Arena to take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

“We work very collaboratively with ESPN and TNT to create the national TV schedule for the season, focusing on maximizing viewership and storylines,” Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive president of basketball strategy and analytics, told Boardroom. “We also have a great, cross-departmental team of more than a dozen people at the league office involved in creating the full 1,230-game schedule.  The whole process is a sprint, spanning about 5-6 weeks from the start of free agency in early July until schedule release in mid-August.”

For the first time in NBA history, the league is taking off on Election Day on Nov. 8, with all 30 teams competing on Nov. 7 in an effort to promote voting and civic engagement.

“No games scheduled on Election Day is just one measure of the NBA family’s commitment to promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and expanding voter access,” said James Cadogan, the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition’s executive director. “Making your voice heard on whatever you think is important is a key part of our democracy and we want to encourage everyone to recognize that and exercise their civic duty.”

For the first time ever, there will also be an NBA Rivals Week. From Jan. 24-28, there will be 11 nationally televised matchups between teams and players. Those will include location based rivalries like Clippers-Lakers and Knicks-Nets, but also classic feuds like Lakers-Celtics, recent rematches like Celtics-Heat and Grizzlies Warriors, and player-based rivalries such as Nuggets-Sixers in a duel between MVP Nikola Jokic and runner-up Joel Embiid and Bulls-Hornets in a battle between Lonzo and LaMelo Ball.

‘It was envisioned as a week to highlight the different types of rivalries in our league: player-to-player rivalries, players returning to face their former teams, recent playoff rematches, as well as historical rivalries like the Celtics vs. the Lakers,” Wasch said. “The goal is to create a new high-interest time in the year where people can tune in and focus on these rivalry matchups separate from our existing tentpoles like Opening Week, Christmas Day, and MLK Day.”

• The average miles traveled per team for the 2022-2023 season is 41,000 miles per the league, a record low in the current 30-team, 82-game schedule format. Last year’s average was 43,000, a record low at the time. In total, it’s 53,000 less cumulative miles traveled from 2021-2022.
• “We’ve also attempted to focus our efforts on the teams that have historically had the most miles to fly to opponents due to their geographic location,” Wasch said. “While the average team will save nearly 2,000 miles traveled this year relative to 2021-22, the teams with the highest travel burden last season— Portland, Golden State, and Phoenix— all saw substantially larger travel benefits in this year’s schedule than average. 
• This year’s schedule will have just 6.8 single-game road trips per team this season, Wasch said, an all-time low in the league’s current format.
• There’s a greater emphasis on what the NBA is calling no travel games, which includes consecutive road games against the same opponent or two games in a row against the Los Angeles or New York City area teams. There are 88 of those instances in 2022-2023, up from 53 last year. That includes 53 times where a team plays at the L.A. or NYC teams two games in a row.
• Like last season, all ESPN and TNT doubleheaders will start at earlier times of 7:30 and 10 p.m. eastern.
• Teams will play an average of 13.3 back-to-back games this season, down from 13.5 in 2021. It’s down 31% from the 2014-2015 season when teams averaged 19.9 games on consecutive days.
• All 30 teams will play on April 9, the final day of the regular season. The seven Eastern Conference matches and one interconference game will be played at 1 p.m. eastern, while the seven Western Conference games will begin at 3:30 eastern. ESPN will televise a doubleheader that day.

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Let’s dive into the NBA National TV schedule for 2022-23 across ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV:

NBA TV Schedule 2022-23:
Top ABC & ESPN Games

• Christmas Day will feature the Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks at noon ET on ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers at Dallas Mavericks on ABC at 2:30, Milwaukee Bucks at Boston Celtics at 5 on ABC, the Memphis Grizzlies making their first ever Christmas Day appearance at the Warriors at 8 ET on ABC, and the Phoenix Suns at Denver Nuggets at 10:30 ET on ESPN.
• The ABC Saturday primetime schedule is highlighted by an NBA Finals rematch of Celtics-Warriors to start things off and the Knicks visiting the Brooklyn Nets and Celtics-Lakers on Jan. 28 as part of NBA Rivals Week.

• ABC’s Sunday showcase will have three dates this season. Memphis visits Boston on Feb. 12 in a Super Bowl Sunday battle; Phoenix-Milwaukee and Lakers-Dallas clash in a Feb. 26 doubleheader, while Phoenix-Dallas and Golden State-Lakers round out the schedule on March 5.
• The ESPN schedule kicks off Oct. 19 when the Knicks visit Ja Morant and the Grizzlies followed by Luka Doncic and Dallas take on Devin Booker and Phoenix. Dallas-Boston and LA Clippers-Golden State are on the network on Nov. 23 to highlight the Thanksgiving Eve slate.

Full National TV Schedule: ABC & ESPN

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Top TNT & NBA TV Games

• As mentioned, opening night on TNT on Oct. 18 features Sixers-Celtics and Warriors-Lakers as the two NBA finalists are featured along with Joel Embiid and LeBron James. Opening week continues on Oct. 20 when Philadelphia hosts Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State hosts Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns.
• The new Minnesota Timberwolves trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert debut on TNT on Nov. 1 when they visit Phoenix. The first game features the top two picks of this year’s NBA Draft when Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic take on Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
• TNT’s traditional Martin Luther King Jr. Day doubleheader features Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and the Miami Heat taking on Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks followed by Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies hosting Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns.
• In addition to MLK Monday, TNT will broadcast 18 Tuesday and 13 Thursday twinbills.

• NBA TV will broadcast 107 games, beginning with a doubleheader on Oct. 22 when the Sixers host the San Antonio Spurs and Morant and Memphis visit Luka Doncic and Dallas.
• The network has an MLK doubleheader with Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics taking on LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets at 1 p.m.. ET, with a nightcap of the Lakers hosting Jalen Green and the Houston Rockets at 10:30.
• NBA TV will also broadcast the league’s two regular season international games. San Antonio hosts Miami on Dec. 17 in Mexico City, and DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls take on Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 19 from Paris.

Full National TV Schedule: TNT & NBA TV

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The post NBA National TV Schedule Revealed for 2022-23 appeared first on Boardroom.

Everybody loves a spirited debate. We’re obsessed with who or what is the GOAT. Or the worst. Or the most underrated. We’re so obsessed with the Michael Jordan–LeBron James question that we go crazy over who owns the superior tequila brand. This week at Boardroom, we couldn’t wait to discuss which Kendrick Lamar album reigns supreme before his latest offering drops. One food delivery app even based an entire marketing campaign on “the GOOAT,” the greatest order of all time, a glorious but utterly manufactured debate.

(And if you watch ESPN or Fox Sports 1 during weekday mornings, you know all about manufactured debates.)

Next week, TNT becomes the latest to jump into the debate business. Welcome to The Great Debate with Charles Barkley, a feature documentary premiering May 18 at 6:30 p.m. ET in which Sir Charles picks the greatest NBA players decade by decade over the course of the league’s first 75 seasons. The film includes stories from the Hall of Famer about the players who inspired him, and more broadly, it seeks to redefine the very concept of greatness.

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“I am so proud of this film,” Barkley said. “We’ve taken a very different approach by expanding the conversation about the GOAT to include the massive impact my top choices have made on American culture, civil rights, the business world, and even our identity as a country. And it’s really entertaining, too.”

If you know anything about the Chuckster, you’re fully aware that the man doesn’t hold back an opinion when he’s got one up his sleeve. Back in November, he made that clearer than clear on an episode of Boardroom’s “The ETCs” with Kevin Durant and Eddie Gonzalez.

On The Great Debate, Sir Charles’ ultimate pick will consider in both on-court and off-the-court accolades and accomplishments. In conjunction with the longtime Inside The NBA star, and the Hall of Fame legend’s Round Mound Media production company, the film centers around six profiles centered around the greatest player from each decade. Barkley won’t go at it alone though, weaving in a roundtable panel starring iconic director Spike Lee, longtime basketball journalist Jackie MacMullan, and former WNBA star, broadcaster and owner Renee Montgomery.

The Great Debate is directed by Emmy-award winner Scott Boggins, with Barkley’s longtime agent and producing partner Marc Perman of Round Mound Media producing along with Marina Grasic and Jai Khanna of Oakhurst Entertainment, Randy Becker of Level 4 Films, Boggins and Craig Jenest of Five Films, and Robert E. Morgan of Talaria Media. 

The post On ‘The Great Debate,’ Charles Barkley Redefines the NBA GOAT appeared first on Boardroom.

There are some people who retire from a career in professional sports and leap at the opportunity to retreat from public view and return to private life at long last. Then, there are guys like future Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who might just be even busier in his career’s second act than he was as a legendary talent that elevated the Miami Heat to new heights.

The 39-year-old Chicago native and Marquette University product has his hands in just about every type of business under the sun these days. Wade has an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake through Qualtrics founder and all-around buddy Ryan Smith. He’s got a wide-ranging deal with WarnerMedia that includes NBA and NCAA studio work for TNT, a TBS game show he hosts called The Cube, a creative director role at Bleacher Report, and a development deal for his production company, 59th & Prairie.

Wade’s an author, has a wine, co-owns restaurants, has an equity stake in sneaker and apparel company Li-Ning, has a successful charity, and is married to Gabrielle freakin’ Union.

And he doesn’t even turn 40 until Jan. 17.

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Dwyane Wade’s Earnings & Investments

• Career basketball earnings: $196.39 million
• Estimated net worth: $170 million
• Key endorsements: Gatorade, Li Ning, Budweiser, Panini, New Era, Hublot
• Major investments:  Li-Ning; Real estate, Utah Jazz, and Real Salt Lake through Smith Entertainment Group; 59th & Prairie Entertainment, BallerTV, Proudly, YNGDNA, Wade Cellars, Stance, Taft, Goldin Auctions
• Involved with charities including Wade’s World Foundation, The Social Change Fund, and St. Jude’s.

Career Accomplishments

NBA championships: 3 (2006, ’12, ’13)
NBA Finals MVP awards: 1 (2006)
All-NBA selections: 8
All-Star selections: 13
Scoring titles: 1 (2009)
Olympic medals: 1 gold (Beijing 2008), 1 bronze (Athens 2004)

Member of the NBA 75th Anniversary team
Miami Heat all-time leader in points and assists
No. 3 jersey retired by Miami Heat and Marquette Golden Eagles

D-Wade Business Milestones

• Joined Qualtrics founder Ryan Smith as part of the ownership group of Utah Jazz in 2021, then partnered with Smith Entertainment Group to purchase minority ownership stake in Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake in January 2022.
• Signed 10-year, $60 million shoe deal with Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning in 2012 that included equity in the company, leaving Jordan Brand; launched the “Way of Wade” clothing and apparel brand under the Li-Ning umbrella.
• Struck wide-ranging deal with WarnerMedia in 2019 that includes working as an NBA and NCAA Tournament analyst, a creative director at Bleacher Report and a development deal for his production company 59th & Prairie Entertainment.
• Joined BallerTV as global ambassador in 2019, offering live coverage, replays and highlights for amateur sports.
• Authored books including photo-based 2021 memoir DWYANE (which included a tie-in NFT drop), 2012 autobiography A Father First and 2021 children’s book Shady Baby, co-authored with Union.
• Announced collaboration with cannabis brand Jeeter in late 2021 on three limited-edition strains
• Founded Proudly with Union, a sustainable baby care brand with products dedicated to the unique skincare needs of children of color.

Flash’s Digital Footprint

Twitter followers: 9.6 million
Instagram followers: 18.4 million
Facebook followers: 12 million

Wade became more interested in business early in his standout carer with the Heat when he injured his shoulder in 2007 and grew concerned about how long he could play the game at a superstar level.

With an open mind (and an open checkbook), Flash learned from legends like former teammate Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson about the business side, opening his world to not only endorsement deals like Gatorade, but collaborations with legacy brands like Saks Fifth Avenue and a docuseries for Facebook Watch.

Wade had the foresight to bring photographer Bob Metelus with him to document his final season, which concluded with his retirement on April 10, 2019 and led to the publishing of DWYANE in November. Wade was able to focus even more on his family, where he has four children including 19-year-old Zaire, who plays for the Jazz’s G-League team the Salt Lake City Stars, and a 12-year-old transgender daughter named Zaya. When he wanted to go into television, he sought advice from Michael Strahan, who parlayed a post-playing career into television better than almost anyone.

Dwyane Wade is now a sports team owner twice over, a media mogul, television host, and an entrepreneur across numerous industries before even reaching four full decades on earth. And at this rate, the next decade could be the flashiest one of all.

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The post Dwyane Wade: Flash Forward appeared first on Boardroom.

If Draymond Green is nothing else, he’s a talker. Loud, outspoken, direct, concise, and unafraid. The Golden State Warriors big man and former NBA Defensive Player of the Year will tell it like it is.

In many ways, that’s what has allowed him to become one of the best defenders in the NBA today — and if you let him tell it, ever. His ability to communicate on the back end is what helped him anchor three championship defenses.

But that same ability to examine the game and communicate what he’s seeing on the floor on the fly is almost guaranteed to lead to his next multi-million-dollar career as well.

“I love TV,” Draymond told Kevin Durant and myself on the latest episode of Boardroom’s “The ETCs” podcast. “It’s fun. I love it because I find it hard to turn on a TV nowadays and learn something about the game of basketball.”

It’s those two passions that make Draymond a natural on the court, as well as on the set of TNT’s Inside The NBA. His debut on the show last September drew rave reviews.

And not just for his willingness to confront Charles Barkley, either.

It was Draymond’s knowledge of the game, and his ability to project that knowledge so eloquently, that had fans clamouring for his return to the show and continue making the case for a full-time gig educating fans on the game he loves so dearly.

“That was big for me because that’s exactly what I want to do. Like, that’s exactly what I want people to take away,” Draymond said of the positive reception he received from viewers following his TNT appearances. “I want you to turn on your TV and if I’m speaking, you can learn something about the game of basketball. You know, I always say [that] the game of basketball is a beautiful sport. It’s such a beautiful game. But it’s a very fine piece of art and it’s delicate.”

“And if handled incorrectly, you can really fuck it up,” he said.

Draymond’s desire to promote the beauty of the game runs alongside his other goal for basketball media: get rid of the drama. “I’m watching so many people fuck our game up because they don’t know the game of basketball,” he said. “They try to apply numbers here where you can’t really apply numbers. They want to pick at this drama because they can’t see what’s goin’ on over here on this side of the play, they can only watch one side; they can’t process all of the shit that’s going on.”

But Draymond still has time on the court before he transitions off of it. The three-time All-Star recently drew headlines for saying a postseason play-in game wasn’t “motivating” for him; at 31 years old and in the first year of a massive four-year, $99.6 million contract, it’s not just a shot at the playoffs that motivates Green — it’s still the NBA championship.

After a 50-loss season in 2019-20, and an up-and-down season this time around, Draymond is ready to get back to his winning ways of old.

“I’m never miserable winning,” he said. “Winning is fun. Like they always say, ‘Winning cures all.’ Like, that shit is not no lie. Winning cures all. There is no better feeling than walking into an arena knowing that we’re probably gonna win. In most arenas, you walk in knowing, ‘Yep, we gonna win.’”

Draymond is doing his best to get Golden State back to contending for a title, even as the clock ticks on his contract, his career, the Warriors‘ title window, and everything else going on in his career. When the time is right, his second career will be waiting for him. And he’s sure to hit the ground running there. 

“Too many people have voices that don’t know shit about the game, you know what I’m saying?” he asks, rhetorically. “And it’s fuckin’ the game off and I hate that side of it.”

Soon enough, Draymond will get his chance to fix it.

Click here to listen to this episode of “The ETCs” podcast with Draymond Green now.

Don’t forget to subscribe to “The ETCs” on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

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The post Draymond Green Loves to Talk. And That Might Lead Him to His Next Career. appeared first on Boardroom.