NBC Wants to Make NBA ‘Throwback’ Game Annual Event

Great news for sports TV viewers who enjoyed NBC’s “Throwback” NBA coverage Tuesday night: The network is already eyeing an encore. 

“We hope to make it an annual event,” an NBC spokesman told Front Office Sports Wednesday morning after social media lit up with praise for Tuesday’s nostalgic telecast.

As FOS outlined six weeks ago, NBC has been leaning into a “NEW-stalgia” programming strategy with the NBA that takes viewers back to the glory days of the 1990s when Michael Jordan’s dynastic Bulls won all six of their titles on the network’s air. 

We’ve seen everything from the dramatic game openings by Bob Costas and Marv Albert to the return of John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” theme. But the strategy really came together during NBC’s inaugural “Throwback Tuesday” presentation.

We saw ’90s NBC legends Costas, Doug Collins, and Mike Fratello call the Spurs’ 131-91 victory over the 76ers from Philadelphia. Jim Gray was back as the sideline reporter, and Hannah Storm hosted the NBA Showtime pregame program on Peacock, with Isiah Thomas and P.J. Carlesimo as studio analysts. 

There were familiar callbacks to NBC’s hoops coverage from the 1995-96 season, including old-time graphics packages, score bugs, stats, and replay wipes. ’90s flashbacks weaved throughout the telecast and there were even retro red mics, Yahoo Sports noted.

The 73-year-old Costas, 74-year-old Collins, and 79-year-old Fratello looked like they’d never been away. As Costas told viewers in his courtside opening: “Think of it as sort of like Crosby, Stills, and Nash… but not Young.” Overall, NBC’s throwback idea was a big hit with hoop fans and journalists. 

During the telecast, the widely followed Hoop Central X account feed tweeted to its 1.6 million followers: “This is awesome.” The post generated 13,000 likes.

MMA journalist (and former part-time ESPN NBA sideline reporter) Ariel Helwani posted: “Where can I vote to keep last night’s @NBAonNBC graphics/look/feel the permanent look?! Just too good. Couldn’t get enough. They nailed it. It felt like a warm cozy (nostalgic) blanket.” 

The throwback idea could and should be adopted by other leagues and networks. It’s easy to envision NBC and Costas doing a similar throwback telecast for MLB once its coverage gets rolling later this month with new play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti.