Digital Sports Desk

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – As NBC Sports prepares to cover the Tokyo Olympics, it is also minimizing its coverage in other areas, as noted below with NBC ending their 16-year run with the National Hockey League. One area taking a hit, not only at NBC Sports but seemingly everywhere on the sports dial is the area of remote production and studio-based play-by-play and color commentary, rather than the on-site coverage we’re so accustomed to as viewers of North American sports. … At most of the big time sporting events, a “World Feed”is produced – side-by-side – with the primary coverage by one of the “big” networks, a la NBC, CBS, FOX, or ABC/ESPN. NBC Sports’ coverage of this week’s Open Championship from Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England will carry the World Feed, rather than its own.

WHILE WE’RE AT IT: There is absolutely no intention to turning While We’re Young (Ideas) into a sports media column, but this week’s general sports news included a TON of sports television controversy, none of it more headline-grabbing than a New York Times expose on ESPN/The Jump’s Rachel Nichols and her selfish/clueless/unjust proclamations brought forth in a Kevin Draper by-lined story last Sunday. … Unbeknownst to Nichols, ESPN servers were rolling on her comments, seeking to mark her turf around ESPN’s coverage of the NBA. … Said Nichols (on videotape) a full year ago: “I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said. “If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.” … The timing of the story, dropped between the final game of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals and Game 1 of the NBA Finals, was obviously chosen to maximize exposure for the New York Times. It’s mainstream coverage included the fact it was addressed by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at his annual NBA Final media availability session, held prior to Game 1. Said Silver upon being asked to address the topic that was certainly distracting from the NBA basketball games to be played: … “It’s disheartening,” he said. “I’m really not in a position to speak too specifically about what goes on at ESPN because so much of my information came from your newspaper’s (NYT) reporting and others, so I am not privy to much more beyond that. I will say, apropos of my earlier comments, I think it’s particularly unfortunate that two women in the industry are pitted against each other. You know, I know that both Rachel and Maria [Taylor] are terrific at what they do, they work extraordinarily hard. As I said, I think just from the league’s standpoint, while we recognize well, ESPN’s operations are independent of us, I feel we’re all part of a family here in terms of what we do around our sport.” … “I think part of the problem is, that as I said earlier, when people can’t get in a room and talk through these issues, this seemingly has fostered now for a full year. I mean, this is an incident that happened, I guess when Rachel was in the bubble a year ago, and I would have thought that in the past year, maybe through some incredibly difficult conversations, that ESPN would have found a way to be able to work through it. Obviously not.

Silver continued, “I should also say, too, that these issues are not unique to ESPN. As I said, the league is working on its own issues in terms of doing a better job with diversity. It’s not just in sports, but in companies around America, there’s a reckoning going on. I think part of it and what we’re seeing in ESPN, it’s one thing to talk about the principles around diversity and inclusion, it’s something else when it comes to somebody’s specific job and how that’s handled. What I’ve learned from dealing with these issues in the NBA is that they are incredibly complex, there’s no magic bullets here, and they require a very labor-intensive effort of getting people in the room and working through these issues by talking a lot about them, and then talking even more about them, and creating a climate where people are comfortable saying what’s on their mind, where people are given the benefit of the doubt, especially long-term employees that are in good standing, that when they do make comments, that people recognize that people make mistakes, that careers shouldn’t be erased by a single comment, that we should be judging people by the larger context of their body of work and who they are and what we know about them.

“So, I have confidence in the leadership of ESPN and of course in my Disney colleagues, and so they will work through this, but I’m sure this is a very difficult time for them and it’s really unfortunate what we’re seeing in sports,” said Silver as he address several topics facing the NBA, including significant loss of revenue over the past year because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

A lesson taught years ago by former head of NBA Properties and recently retired Golden State Warriors team president and Hall of Famer Rick Weltsfits this situation perfectly. “Conflict is good,” said Welts, “but un-resolvedconflict is not good.” … In fact, it sucks.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Amongst the topics addressed by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at his pre-NBA Finals media session was whether the NBA would return to the international stage and plan for its Global Game series of exhibition games staged in cities around the world. … “Thanks for your question,” said Silver. “I think most realistically not — well, it’s clear it’s not going to happen this fall, but it’s my hope it will be the following year. Again, of course this is a global issue, COVID, and so it’s not just conditions here in the United States but the places at least where we have traditionally played and in Europe, Asia and in Latin America. We would need COVID rates to come way down there as well … But it is my hope that as we can move – in the U.S. – back to something that looks very close to normal next year (2021-22 season) and then the following seasons we’ll return to our international activities.”

NBA FINALS ON THE FRONT BURNER, TOKYO ON THE BACK: With three Olympic Men’s Basketball team members playing in the NBA Finals and unavailable, USA Basketball announced that seven members of the 2021 USA Select Team would remain with the National Team for the five exhibition friendly games upcoming from July 10-18 in Las Vegas. … Added to the national team roster for the domestic exhibitions were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons/Villanova); Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers); John Jenkins(Bilbao Basket, Italy/Vanderbilt); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs/Kentucky); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville); Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers/Purdue) and Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets/Tulane).

Those seven players join U.S. Olympic Team 2020 members: Bam Adebayo(Miami Heat), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics). … Because of their involvement in the 2021 NBA Finals, Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) are unable to join the USA squad during the upcoming exhibition games.

88s: Eighty-eight players asked the NBA to remove their names from the list of “early entry” players eligible for selection in the NBA Draft 2021.

MAKE A LIST: Pro golfer Luke List is seeking to become the fourth consecutive player to make the John Deere Classic his first PGA Tour title as he seeks his first Tour victory in his 193rd start.