NBCUniversal Has Hoop Dreams As Sports Set To Dominate Upfronts

Last year, it was movies. This year, it seems, it’s all sports. The Upfronts kicked off at Radio City Music Hall with NBC reminding advertisers that it will soon have NBA basketball.

The company scored the first basket at the three-day event that will likely be dominated by live sports with the news that Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, had signed up to be a special contributor to its NBA coverage.

“Sports is definitely having a moment in the industry and, God knows, you’ll hear the word ‘sports’ ten-thousand times this week, how some sports are moving to streaming or other platforms are adding a day or two to their schedule,” said Mark Marshall, Chairman, NBCUniversal Global Advertising & Partnerships. 

But Donna Langley, whose team just put together its first fall schedule (sort of) that includes primetime basketball (RIP: The Voice on Tuesdays, mostly), said that she hopes its $2.5B annual deal will have a positive impact on the rest of its programming.

Langley, Chairman, NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studio, said, “Every game will be a new event, a weekly tentpole that maximizes the impact of the league across our platforms and delivers a sizable audience watching in real time for our advertising partners. By adding NBA games to the schedule, we’ll build on decades of sports programming on NBC and create a halo effect around the entire entertainment schedule. So whether you’re a Bravoholic, a cinephile, a sports fanatic, news junkie, or simply can’t miss Weekend Update, our franchises offer something for everyone, which means our advertisers can, without question, reach the broadest possible audience.”

NBC’s October schedule features less than a third scripted programming with only one new series – Jimmy Fallon’s marketing reality series On Brand, with The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe, who were on stage, being added at some point over the fall.

There were a handful of other NBC stars on stage including David Alan Grier and Wendi McLendon-Covey from St. Denis Medical, which is returning for a second season, Reba McEntire, star of Happy’s Place and a coach on The Voice, and S. Epatha Merkerson from Chicago Med.

“One of the many powers of this portfolio is the ability to build and maintain audiences season after season whether it’s newer comedies like our show St. Denis Medical or iconic legacy franchises like Law & Order or Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, Chicago Sanitation and Chicago Municipal Zone,” Grier joked.

The Upfronts presentation leaned heavily on Peacock programming including The Office spinoff The Paper and Dig starring Amy Poehler.

Poehler, who was joined on stage by her “work husband” Tina Fey, said that production on the show, which reunites her with her Parks and Recreation cohort Mike Schur, starts this summer.

The company showed a trailer for The Paper, which comes from The Office’s Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, which featured The White Lotus star Sabrina Impacciatore as a female Michael Scott. “You’re going to get tired chasing my pretty little butt around with that camera,” she says in the clip.

Oscar Nunez, who played Oscar Martinez in The Office, is back, this time in Toledo, Ohio. “Oh, no, not again, I’m not agreeing to any of this. Don’t you guys have enough after nine years, I’m starting over with another of these things,” Nunez’s Martinez says in the trailer.

“I told Mr. Greg Daniels that if Oscar came back, he would probably be living in a more, bustling, cosmopolitan city. Greg heard me and moved Oscar to Toledo, Ohio, which has three times the population of Scranton, so it was nice to be heard,” joked Nunez.

Domhnall Gleeson plays idealistic journalist Ned Sampson. “Fans of The Office will be delighted to see Oscar back at work. Some older fans will look at me and be glad that Meredith is also coming back. That’s a red hair joke,” said Gleeson.

Elsewhere, Elizabeth Banks, Keke Palmer and Dakota Fanning were on stage to promote The Miniature Wife, The Burbs and All Her Fault, respectively.

Banks, whose series is a marital comedy also starring Matthew Macfadyen, joked that her relationship with NBCU goes back to the time that she did a spot on Third Watch, which ran between 1999 and 2005, as well as an appearance on Law & Order: SVU, which Palmer also starred on when she was 12.

“Every person you see up here today, every performance, trailer or clip actors have prepared for you, brings us back to four little words, the mantra that greets us every day in the headquarters in Los Angeles: Above All Else: Entertain, and that’s what we do best,” concluded Langley.