SBJ Unpacks: The sports studio shows moving the needle

Even after TNT’s “Inside the NBA” is officially Outside the NBA — an absurd ending likely coming this spring — it will always be the template for an entire industry of talking heads:

Ernie Johnson in sneakers and a bow tie.

Charles Barkley kissing a donkey’s ass.

Kenny Smith “Going Fishin.’”

Shaquille O’Neal’s “Yo Momma’” jokes.

There’s apparently no business like the sports studio show business — because if 35 years of “Inside the NBA” has taught the world anything, it’s that people will stay up past 1 a.m. ET to watch the four stooges. Their executive producer is wise like a fox, Shaq’s and Chuck’s mothers used to be the show’s conscience, Kenny turns X’s and O’s into a skit and Ernie’s place is to save them all from themselves.

If you don’t think the industry is watching — because certainly the public is — you’re wrong. Some 21 Sports Emmys later, the legacy of “Inside the NBA” is that ratings are directly reciprocal to sarcasm, slapstick, venom, brutal honesty, self-deprecation, on-air DM’s and an undying effort to never, ever, ever look straight into the camera.

“When I hear other shows model themselves after us, I take it as a compliment,” said Tim Kiely, the clever executive producer of “Inside the NBA” for nearly 29 years. “I mean, that’s my first rule with all on-air talent: I do not want you looking at cameras. Just talk. And talk to each other. Don’t talk to the cameras. And when other shows do that, too, I kind of say, ‘That’s one for our side.’”

It’s no shocker that, elsewhere, Amazon executive Jay Marine admits his “Thursday Night Football” pregame and postgame product is inspired by “Inside the NBA.” It’s no coincidence that ESPN’s “College GameDay” has turned Pat McAfee into their Barkley, or that Stephen A. Smith is negotiating a contract the size of Rhode Island, or that “Good Morning Football” is a reincarnation of Brent, Irv, Phyllis and Jimmy the Greek’s “NFL Today.” The goal of any studio show is to humanize, improvise, laugh at itself, create chemistry and grab an Emmy nomination. TNT taught them all how.

Many pull it off capably. Lee Corso is better known for picking winners in mascot headgear on ESPN’s “College GameDay” than he ever was for coaching. Snoop Dogg’s Q rating went next level when he showed up on NBC’s Olympics coverage next to straitlaced host Mike Tirico. The “NFL Live” cast of Laura Rutledge, Dan Orlovsky, Mina Kimes and Marcus Spears can’t walk through airports without being pointed at. And former Yankees Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez play nice with Red Sox rival David Ortiz on Fox’s MLB set. But there’s something more genuine, irreverent and mercurial about the TNT foursome in Atlanta, who will make viewers alternately weep and belly laugh when they walk off the set potentially one last time in May. “Well, put it this way,” said David Levy, Turner Inc.’s former president who oversaw “Inside the NBA” for decades. “When Doug Collins was coaching, he told me his players used to come in at halftime and turn on the TV. Just to hear what Chuck, Kenny and Shaq said. If that’s not impact, nothing the hell is.”

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Get on your laptop and Google “Inside the NBA, Gone Fishin.’” The pictures tell a thousand words.

It’s a ritual now. Whenever an NBA team is eliminated in the postseason, Ernie, Chuck, Shaq and Kenny pretend to join them on a lakeside vacation with fishing rods — along with a superimposed “Where’s Waldo” photo of players and celebrities from the losing city. The history of it all explains everything about the wonderful, mischievous, demented minds of the No. 1 studio show on Earth.

According to Kiely, the genesis was Smith telling a story one day on set about his playing days with the Rockets, when — while losing an elimination game to the Suns — the Phoenix Gorilla gloated near their bench carrying a fishing rod and a Gone Fishin’ sign. “Kenny said he then got everybody in the huddle and said, ‘We ain’t going fishing tonight, we ain’t going fishing tonight.’ And so it just grew out of that.”

Kiely and his idea men brainstormed the Gone Fishin’ meme right then, the kind of ingenuity and serial segment that any ambitious studio show needs in its hip pocket. Think Kyle Brandt’s “Angry Runs” on “GMFB,” or Scott Van Pelt’s “Bad Beats” on “SportsCenter”; they’re all kind of/sort of distant cousins of Gone Fishin.’ In other words, wise-ass TV. “Charles said it best,” Kiely said. “We’re on the air from 8 o’clock till 2 a.m. Why not have a little fun in between? Obviously, there’s plenty of time for hoops. But if you can put a little Italian pepper in it and spice it up, that’s better.”

Now get on your laptop and Google “Shaq and Charles pissed off.” Their arguments tell you a thousand words.

They aren’t fake fights at all. O’Neal and Barkley actually scuffled once as players, and as chummy as they are now, about every two weeks Chuck does something to set Shaq off. Their most infamous on-air feud was the time Barkley took so much of Shaq’s air time, Shaq refused to speak when Ernie finally pointed his way.

“I’m not saying nothing,” Shaq said. “Nuh-uh. He does it all the time. … Go back over there to Know-It-All.”

Barkley smirked and essentially did a “Who, me?” But it’s been so real and serious that Lucille O’Neal and Charcey Glenn, Barkkey’s late mother, used to call the set to tell them to hush.

“Charles’ mom and Shaq’s mom were great friends,” Kiely said. “And when Chuck and Shaq would go at it — and I mean, it was legitimate, they would be sniping at each other like two brothers — the mothers would call and lecture them after the show. I’d be trying to talk to them about what we were doing next, and I’d have to wait till Shaq’s mom was done dissing him for calling Charles [an SOB] or whatever each other did.”

A little — or a lot of — conflict never hurts ratings, though, and that’s the moral of it all. (Think Skip Bayless vs. Shannon Sharpe on the late FS1 show “Undisputed.”) But that’s also the charm of “Inside the NBA” — the show is a window into a basketball team’s locker room or airplane. That’s why it’s must-see. NBA players, when the doors are shut and the media’s been escorted out, needle each other incessantly. Nothing’s off-limits: your clothes, your hairline, your toenails, your momma. That’s what “Inside the NBA” essentially is: a team bus on national TV.

“Yep, that’s what we’re all about,” Kiely said. “Cheap shots after the whistle.”

They revel in it, too. Ernie’s reputation is that he’s the ringmaster, the voice of reason. But he’s got a smidge of Eddie Haskell in him. In fact, Johnson famously tells people on the set, “I’m supposed to be the traffic cop, but that’s an insult to traffic cops. Because I want to cause car wrecks.”

Ernie’s the one, for instance, who typed “I’m a dumbass” into Charles’ teleprompter — which Barkley read on-air in a priceless Ron Burgundy moment. Ernie’s the one who narrates the segment “Who He Play For,” essentially a roast of Charles for never knowing who’s on which NBA roster. And Ernie’s the one who emasculated “Chuckster” outside a so-called “Champions Club” on the TNT set, where only players with championship rings were allowed to enter. Ernie, for instance, opened the club door to shout to a frozen-out, ringless Barkley, “Fennis Dembo is asking for you in here!” Ernie’s also the one who tees up the tweets saying Shaq’s glasses are too small for his head — Shaq usually responding with a “Yo Momma.” Ernie’s the one who interviewed a pseudo-LeBron James in an “Inside the NBA” spoof of “The Decision’’  — or, in this case, LeBron’s decision whether to shave off his receding hairline.

Kenny’s no innocent, either, known on set as the “counter-puncher,” who calls out Charles for saying Milwaukee is a contender in one sentence and Milwaukee sucks in the next. “Which one is it, Chuck?” he’ll say. Kenny’s the one who shoved Shaq into a Christmas tree, the one who bet Shaq he couldn’t keep a straight face after eating a red-hot chip (he couldn’t), the one who said Charles had to kiss a donkey’s ass if he lost a bet to him (a derriere that Charles did actually kiss on live TV).

“No matter what we do to them, they never get pissed off,” Kiely said. “It’s not that they don’t want to be made fun of — they demand that you make fun of them. So that’s what we do.”

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Now go get your laptop and Google “Kenny’s Big Board.” His X’s and O’s are worth a thousand words.

Truth is, they actually do watch basketball on the TNT set — although Kiely said he has caught them watching “Law and Order” instead sometimes — and it’s usually Kenny’s job to break down film. But unlike “NFL Live” or “Football Night in America,” he doesn’t use a typical telestrator. Instead, he bolts out of his chair, sometimes in a bow-legged race against Shaq, usually causing the big man to trip or wipe out. Once Kenny arrives at the Big Board, it’s half analysis, half stand-up comedy. The idea is not to turn the former Rocket into a rocket scientist.

“One of my favorite things to destroy is ‘Keys to the Game,’” Kiely said.

Now get on your laptop and Google “Inside the NBA, Ernie saves the day.” His compassion is worth a thousand words.

Kiely’s incessant comment to Barkley, for years, has been, “Chuck, you’re one sentence away from being kicked off the air. You’re one sentence away.” And Ernie, most of all, has taken it to heart. One night, for instance, Charles started to say, “All you white folks look alike to me,” causing Ernie to blurt, “Uhhhh, thank you very much,” wave him off and change the subject. Any time Charles has talked too irresponsibly about anything — such as the “big ol’ women of San Antonio” — Ernie will say, “I don’t think you mean it that way, Charles. Do you want to correct that, Charles?”

Ernie is just his personal protector, who won’t let his “Chuckster” cross a career-ending line, something other studio analysts could have benefited from over the years (see Rush Limbaugh). But it’s family in Studio J. It’s a laugh-a-thon, granted, but deep down, it’s not four stooges — it’s four brothers.

Now pull out your laptop one more time and Google “Inside the NBA last season.” The pictures are worth a thousand tears.

It’s true. Unless they win a matching rights lawsuit against the league or they relocate en masse to NBC, Amazon or ESPN, they’ve got about eight months to live. For now, the other studio shows will sit back, watch and learn, like they have for 35 years. But, make no mistake, “Inside the NBA” is going to exit this spring with a gag, a bow, a Yo Momma … or a cigarette lighter?

“We just figure we’ll just go guns blazing and probably set Shaq on fire at the end of last show,” Kiely said. “That’s what he wants to do. He wants to be set on fire. Yeah. He said, ‘Set me on fire. I can do anything. I’m Shaq.’”

Then they’ll all go fishing.

ESPN — “SportsCenter”

ESPN — “First Take”

ESPN — “Pardon the Interruption”

TNT — “Inside the NBA”

TNT — “NHL on TNT”

ESPN — “College GameDay” (football)

Fox — “Big Noon Kickoff”

CBS and Turner Sports — “The Road to the Final Four”

ESPN — “College GameDay” (basketball)

NBC — Olympics

Golf Channel — “Golf Central”

CBS — “The NFL Today”

ESPN — “NFL Live”

Fox — “Fox NFL Sunday”

NBC — “Football Night in America”

Fox — “MLB on Fox”

MLB Network — “MLB Tonight”

NFL Network — “Good Morning Football”

CBS — “We Need to Talk”

NBC — “Premier League Live”

Fox — “Fox Soccer”

Fox — “The Herd with Colin Cowherd”

iHeart Media and Peacock — “The Dan Patrick Show”

ESPN — “The Pat McAfee Show”

Roku Channel — “The Rich Eisen Show”

There will be plenty of Shohei Ohtani merchandise inventory at Yankee Stadium for the World Series this week.

Chris Buffa, VP/operations for Legends, told SBJ prior to Game 3 that Ohtani merchandise sold out in two hours when the Dodgers visited the Yankees in June. So, for the World Series, Buffa said Legends more than doubled its previous order of Ohtani merch from the regular season.

A display outside the team store featured jerseys of Ohtani (with his name on the back in Japanese) and Aaron Judge (only his No. 99, as is tradition) with the 2024 World Series patch, which retail for $225. There is also a limited-edition, Yankee Stadium exclusive “Bash of the Titans” bobblehead (1,000 in stock) featuring Ohtani and Judge ($199.99), though it won’t ship for three or four months after purchase. The team store has been buzzing with customers ever since the Yankees clinched the American League Pennant, with a line greeting workers at 9 every morning when the store opens, and Buffa said the hottest selling items have been ’47 and Nike hoodies and hats.

With the Dodgers up on the Yankees 2-0 in the World Series, tickets for Game 3 on the secondary market have, unsurprisingly, dropped. According to SeatGeek, tickets have dropped 36% since N.Y.’s 4-2 loss in Saturday’s Game 2, though these have been some of the most in-demand World Series games on SeatGeek.

YES Network features extended 90-minute pregame and postgame shows sandwiching every 8:08pm ET World Series game. For home games, Bob Lorenz, Jack Curry and John Flaherty will be in the Stamford, CT, studio, while Meredith Marakovits, Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill will be in the Bronx.

The Yankees will be offering several new food items for the World Series. The highlight, as eaten by SBJ, was the Lobel’s pastrami sandwich ($19.95). The team sells between 300 and 400 per game, and it is definitely worth the wait in line.

Other Worlds Series coverage includes:

• Fox experiencing massive viewership increase through two games

• Blue Triton Brands activating around games in N.Y.

• Commissioner Rob Manfred touts season: ‘We’ve had a good year’

• Yankees saved millions in tax exemptions from stadium

JR Motorsports sold six figures’ worth of merchandise around last week’s reunion between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Budweiser, the latest reminder that his star power has continued well past his full-time driving days.

Last Tuesday, Anheuser-Busch announced that it had found a relatively low-cost way to reunite Budweiser with Earnhardt Jr., inking a pact to sponsor the NASCAR Hall of Famer in a handful of grassroots late model stock car races over the next year. Terms were undisclosed, but late-model racing is a far less expensive venture than sponsoring a top-shelf team in NASCAR, as the brand did when Earnhardt was a full-time driver.

Budweiser sponsored Earnhardt for nine seasons in NASCAR, forming one of the most iconic driver-corporate backer duos in the history of American auto racing.

When the team unveiled the partnership last week, it quickly followed up by releasing a suite of licensed products around the deal: $250 autographed, full-sized branded helmets, $140 autographed die-cast toys, $27 hats, $10 signs and $5 koozies.

The announcement went viral on social media last week, and SBJ understands that the team has already tallied mid-six figures in revenue from sales of the Budweiser merchandise.

Earnhardt and his father, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., both made NASCAR’s Top 15 list for the most trackside merchandise sales in 2023. JR Motorsports competes in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series but also runs in grassroots levels of stock-car racing. The first time Earnhardt will hit the track with the paint scheme will be the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway next month.

A-B is already a major sponsor in motorsports, serving as premier sponsor of NASCAR via its Busch Light brand, which also has a deal with Trackhouse Racing.

The WNBA's oldest and newest non-endemic sponsors are the most recognized by the league's fans in the fourth annual Sponsor Breakthrough study fielded this month by MarketCast for SBJ.

Half the fans in the study correctly identified Gatorade as the WNBA's official sports drink, a status the brand has held since the league's inaugural 1997 season. Delta, who joined the league roster in August, generated a 42% awareness level. Nike has been a league sponsor since the 1997, but the apparel category is not measured in the study.

Michelob Ultra, a sponsor since 2012, saw its awareness level more than triple since the 2022 study (Bud Light was the official beer of WNBA and all WNBA teams from 1997-2006). Pepsi's Starry brand's recognition level dropped three percentage points year-over-year from an already-low 18%. The brand is a heavy NBA TV advertiser, but the estimated 45 spots that ran during nationally televised WNBA games in 2024 was down 75% compared to the 2023 season, according to an SBJ analysis of iSpot.tv data.

As part of a leaguewide deal with the NFL, Cosm will produce and show Thursday Night Football (on Prime Video), Sunday Night Football (NBC) and Monday Night Football (ESPN) games – as well as select matchups on Fox – in its immersive venues through the remainder of the 2024 regular season.

An announcement today will formalize the agreement, which saw Cosm begin showing select NFL games in its LED domes in Los Angeles and Dallas one month ago, starting with a Sunday Night Football debut (Chiefs-Falcons) in Week 3.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Among a growing list of leagues and media companies, Cosm had existing agreements to produce and show games that’s domestic broadcast rights are owned by NBC Sports, ESPN and Fox Sports. It also has leaguewide deals with the NBA and UFC.

Cosm has made tickets available to its remaining slate of NFL games in its app; reserved dome seats for a Dallas showing of Monday’s Giants-Steelers game, for example, are currently priced between $50 and $127, with standing room $22. Cosm LA is showing Game 3 of the World Series.

In addition to operational locations in LA’s Hollywood Park and Dallas’ Grandscape mixed-use developments, a third Cosm venue slated to open in Atlanta’s Centennial Yards by the end of 2026 .

RELATED: How Cosm is trying to change the sports viewing experience

The NFL has always been at the forefront of innovation in sports, but its latest venture into artificial intelligence is setting a new standard not only for football but for the entire sports industry. The league’s groundbreaking Digital Athlete program is revolutionizing player development and safety, leveraging AI in ways that were once thought to be the stuff of science fiction. The NFL’s approach offers a blueprint for how AI can be harnessed to improve the game and safeguard its most valuable assets: the players.

The genesis of the digital athlete

The physical and cognitive demands of the NFL are extraordinary. Players must operate at peak performance under extreme conditions, where every play has high stakes. This has pushed the NFL to pursue continuous improvement and innovation, which led to the creation of the Digital Athlete program. In collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and sports science experts, this AI-powered platform simulates and analyzes every aspect of a player’s health and performance.

By creating a digital avatar for each player, the Digital Athlete program allows teams to monitor, predict, and enhance player performance while proactively managing injury risks. The program, now in its second full season, gives NFL clubs access to real-time data, enabling them to optimize workloads and ensure players are in top condition for game day.

Real-world applications: Enhancing player development

One of the major advantages of the Digital Athlete program is its ability to provide granular insights into player development. The difference between a good player and a great one often comes down to small but crucial details. AI allows teams to fine-tune every aspect of a player's game through detailed data analysis.

Take the San Francisco 49ers as an example. Under the leadership of Ben Peterson, vice president of health and performance, the team uses AI to simulate millions of potential scenarios, evaluating how in-game events might affect a player’s health. This enables coaches to make real-time adjustments to training regimens, ultimately extending players’ careers and reducing injury risks. In one instance, AI flagged a quarterback’s throwing mechanics as potentially problematic, leading to targeted adjustments that improved both accuracy and safety.

AI has also streamlined the 49ers’ data analysis process, freeing up more time for coaches and trainers to focus on direct player interactions, improving communication, and boosting on-field performance.

A case study in prevention

The power of AI-driven predictions was demonstrated with a running back during the 2023 season. Early on, the Digital Athlete program detected unusual stress patterns in his lower limbs. While the player hadn’t experienced any symptoms, AI predicted that continuing at the same intensity could result in a significant injury. The training staff adjusted his workload, and as a result, the player completed the season without any major setbacks. This proactive approach exemplifies how AI can prevent injuries before they occur.

Proactive injury prevention: A new era of player safety

Player safety has always been a top priority for the NFL, and the Digital Athlete program has elevated injury prevention to a new level. By using machine learning algorithms, the NFL processes vast amounts of data from wearable devices, game footage, and historical injury reports to identify early warning signs of potential injuries. For instance, if a player’s running gait shows signs of imbalance or their workload exceeds safe thresholds, the system immediately alerts medical staff, enabling rapid intervention.

Jeff Miller, the NFL’s vice president of player health and safety, emphasizes that AI allows teams to work smarter and more efficiently, reducing injury risks while making the game safer. The proactive use of AI has the potential to extend careers and improve overall player health, setting a new standard for sports safety management.

Conclusion: A blueprint for the future

The NFL's Digital Athlete program is more than just an innovation for football — it represents a future in which AI plays a vital role in sports safety and performance enhancement. By harnessing AI’s potential, the NFL is not only safeguarding the well-being of its players but also setting a precedent for other sports leagues. The lessons learned from this program offer a blueprint for how AI can be used to enhance athletic performance, prevent injuries, and push the boundaries of what’s possible in sports.

As AI continues to evolve, its applications in sports will only grow more sophisticated. The Digital Athlete program is just the beginning, and its success is sure to inspire broader adoption of AI across the world of athletics.

Neil Sahota  is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations artificial intelligence adviser, faculty member at UC Irvine, and author of “Own the A.I. Revolution.”

• NFT platform operator Sweet is launching a new blockchain-based collectibles marketplace and gaming experience called MLS Quest under licensing agreements with the soccer league and its players’ union, writes SBJ's Alex Silverman.

• Youth Inc., the youth sports-focused media company and commerce platform formed by Fox Sports color commentator and former NFL TE Greg Olsen, launched season two of the Youth Inc. Podcast along with two new presenting sponsors for the show, notes SBJ's Rob Schaefer.