NBC Sports Chicago boss Kevin Cross got a big promotion this month, adding NBC-5 and Telemundo Chicago to his purview.
That ought to give him some clout to assert himself in how he runs the regional sports network that’s home to the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks — a channel that seems to have reined in its ambitions in recent years.
For all the complaints about the tacked-on subscription fees to support Marquee Sports Network, the Chicago Cubs channel the team launched last year with Sinclair Broadcast Group, NBC Sports Chicago gets subsidized the same way.
NBC Sports Chicago at least carries three pro teams rather than just one, but that doesn’t mean the channel is doing all it can to earn its keep. It should be more than just a home for games and whatever filler comes down the corporate pipeline.
So here are 10 suggestions on how to improve NBCSCH.
1. Get new theme music.
Enough with the tired, old standard-issue NBC regional sports network jingles. Why not update music already associated with a team, such as “Here Come the Hawks,” or commission something distinct?
This might seem like a small thing, but it’s emblematic of a larger issue.
Chicago is not Philadelphia, Boston, Washington or any other market. It not only deserves its own sound, it merits its own look and feel rather than some cookie-cutter approach dictated from Connecticut.
Think back to how WGN worked to make its sports telecasts unique. That’s the standard Chicago viewers have every reason to expect.
2. Reinvent the studio pregame and postgame shows.
White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks fans need only so much talk about any ordinary regular-season game, even allowing for the fact former Sox manager Ozzie Guillen or someone on the other shows might say or do something unexpected.
Viewers know NBCSCH banks on ad money that comes from these shows, but it has to reward their time and attention. Tell them something they haven’t read or heard.
Assume that the highly engaged, well-informed fan who will sit through a studio show already knows something if it has been on Twitter, sports radio or the game broadcast. And remember excerpts from news conferences fill time but rarely are very interesting in and of themselves.
Make use of the channel’s experts and reporters but bring in outsiders from other media outlets (even out-of-towners) to prod, provoke and approach from a less predictable angle. Feel free to expand discussion beyond the just completed game to anything of interest in a given sport.
3. Add shows for team leaders and owners.
The owners and general managers of teams on NBC Sports Chicago should be accountable to fans. There should be regular programs on which they answer questions and explain what they’re trying to do.
Tony La Russa, Billy Donovan and Jeremy Colliton should do regular programs too.
4. Use NBC Sports Chicago+ more.
The secondary NBC Sports Chicago+ channel, primarily used when teams’ games overlap, is a wasted resource much of the time. Do more with it.
The recent BetCast during a Charlotte Hornets rout of the Bulls was mildly diverting even if it never let anyone forget it was trying to drive gambling business for PointsBet. (NBCSCH parent NBCUniversal has a stake in the bookmaking outfit.)
Other alternatives are worth trying with the secondary channel. It doesn’t have to be the full Nickelodeon-scale reinvention. It doesn’t even have to have its own set of announcers.
A version of the main telecast with a full complement of on-screen statistics would be interesting. So would showing all camera angles at once. A Telemundo-ized version of a game telecast is worth a shot.
Or how about a C-SPAN approach of just turning on the cameras and field microphones at Guaranteed Rate Field for, say, batting practice?
5. Give Len Kasper a talk show.
Now that Kasper is part of the White Sox broadcast family — and filling in on NBC Sports Chicago while primarily the radio voice of the Sox — why not give him a regular talk show?
It could be nominally about sports but doesn’t have to be. Allow him to stretch both in the lineup of guests and in topics explored. Use his band, Sonic45. This could be fun.
6. Use all the resources at your disposal.
NBC Sports Chicago has used some website reporting talent on TV — an NFL draft special with Adam Hoge joined by Jason Goff, Olin Kreutz and Hub Arkush on Thursday, for example — but there’s not nearly enough.
After all, it’s the TV channel people pay to get. If people are working for NBCSCH, get them on camera regularly.
7. On a related note, more David Kaplan, please.
David Kaplan has gone from being the face of the channel to absurdly underutilized. It makes no sense.
8. More sports talk, please.
Why not bring back Kaplan’s weekday panel program, “Sports Talk Live”? Maybe pick up all or part of a show from WMVP-AM 1000 and/or WSCR-AM 670.
9. Stop with the layoffs.
Laying off reporters and other staff, like cutting back on original programming, gives the audience and sponsors the impression NBC Sports Chicago is not as committed to serving them as they think it should be.
Everyone understands NBCUniversal’s theme park and movie businesses took a hit because of the pandemic, but there are a lot of ways to save money. Be more creative.
10. Make sure fans know where to find games — and maybe put a few on free TV.
On occasions when the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks have played at once, some viewers have had trouble finding the third game pushed off on what has been called NBC Sports Chicago+2.
Listings on some services haven’t included the extra games. Some viewers were left without the third channel in high definition.
While it has been suggested viewers stream the games from the NBC Sports Chicago website or MyTeams app, again, this is not what TV viewers paid to get. Had they wanted to stream games, they would subscribe to a streaming service.
If NBC Sports Chicago can’t give all of its subscribers the quality telecast they deserve, maybe put the game on free TV. The tie to NBC-5 is stronger than ever, right?
But failing that, work with carriers to ensure viewers are getting the best possible service from NBC Sports Chicago. It’s in their interest as much as it’s in the channel’s.
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