Jordan, 62, is going to make a comeback as a commentator

Text / Li Jiajun, Miaoli

What is the experience of listening to Jordan's commentary on the competition?

On May 12, NBC Sports Channel officially announced that Jordan will join the "NBA on NBC" program as a "special guest" starting from the new season.

"I am very excited to see the NBA return to the NBC platform." Jordan said in an official statement, "NBA on NBC was a very important part of my career. I am very excited to participate in this project as a special guest."

Not only that, Jordan also appeared at the investment conference held by NBC in the form of video links, and the business considerations behind it are self-evident.

Source: clutchpoint

In the official statement, Jordan's character name is called "special contributor". Although NBC did not specify the specific form of participation, NBC has made history to invite Jordan to the studio in any case - before, Jordan has never appeared in any studio or program.

What's more, this "point-to-point" debut is more exciting and more attractive to football fans.

Before reaching a cooperation with Jordan, NBC signed NBA veterans such as Jamal Crawford, Carmelo Anthony, Reggie Miller, Vince Carter, etc. around its ace show "NBA on NBC".

Source: New York Times

Jordan, who led the Bulls to complete two "three consecutive championships", not only became the GOAT in the basketball industry, but also changed the development of the NBA almost alone.

As one of the most authoritative television broadcasters in the United States, NBC has been broadcasting NBA games from 1954 to 1962, and from 1990 to 2002, witnessing Jordan at his peak.

NBC has also tasted all the sweetness: the sixth game between the Bulls and Jazz in the 1998 Finals was watched by more than 70 million people across the United States, and the average ratings and number of viewers in the entire series were the highest in the NBA's history. The peaks of the NBA's ratings data were all created in the NBC era.

Source: NBA

In July last year, NBC's parent company reached a new 11-year broadcast agreement with the NBA, returning to the role of NBA broadcasting.

For a moment, many people shouted that youth was back. The same goes for NBC.

After 24 years of rebroadcasting of the NBA, NBC is facing many huge changes. The market environment, the development of the sports industry, and the preferences of young people are all different from the past. In this case, NBC is choosing a relatively safe path - nostalgia and playing the emotional card.

Jordan's return is the latest case in this strategy.

A week ago, the NBA's most classic theme song "Roundball Rock" in 1990 was also the return of nearly 20s; even under this sentimental banner, even "dead people" were not spared - a few days ago, NBC announced that it would use AI synthesis to replicate the voice of the late commentator Jim Feigan for the opening of some programs and game promotional videos.

In the 1990s, Jim Feigan served as a narrator for NBC's promotional videos of stars such as Jordan and O'Neal.

I don't know how it would feel when Jordan heard this sound again, but appeared in the form of AI. Or, NBC could shoot a "return" documentary for Jordan, with the AI ​​version of Jim Feigan serving as the narrator, completing an alternative closed loop.

Source: New York Times

Youth, ah feelings, ah capital... Although NBC's starting point and business considerations to play the emotional card are good, it also needs to be admitted that the NBA has only one 1990s, and "NBA on NBC" has only one 1990s.

If you want to replicate the glory of the past in different markets, NBC cannot rely solely on feelings, otherwise there will be only a dead end.

But it is undeniable that if NBC can really put Jordan in front of the camera and talk about the "GOAT" topic that will never go out of date, then the popularity of social media will inevitably be considerable. At least in this first season after they took over, the traffic has been settled.