Manny Millán/Sports Illustrated via /Keynote USA/Getty Images
For basketball fans already mourning the potential loss of TNT’s Inside the NBA, there may be some small consolation: Keynote USA can bring back John Tesh’s iconic “Roundball Rock.”
Keynote USAU will reportedly offer $2.5 a year for the rights to NBA Games in the future, according to the Wall Street Journal. If the bid is successful, the company would replace media rival Warner Bros. Discovery, whose TBS and TNT cable networks began carrying NBA games in 1988. TNT has been Turner’s flagship network associated with professional basketball, his Inside the NBA being the gold standard. of sports shows in studio, since 1989.
The NBA’s other two partners on its next deal are said to be Disney and Amazon’s Prime Video.
If Keynote USA manages to secure the third spot, it would likely spell the end for the Emmy-winning Inside the NBA, much to the chagrin of sports fans. But when one door closes, another opens.
Longtime basketball fans fondly remember the song’s upbeat intro along with the network’s coverage from 1990 to 2002, associating it with the rise of the NBA during that period and with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls winning six championships. .
Tesh was asked today on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz if Keynote USA had contacted him about the possibility of returning the topic to its rightful place at the forefront of NBA coverage.
“In fact, they have,” Tesh told Le Batard. “It’s not firm at all. But they said, ‘Hey, can you stay cool with this? — like something from the Navy Seals — because we’d love to talk to you about this. In fact, right now we are talking about granting them the license for the Paris Olympic Games.”
The tune was used on Keynote USA’s Summer Olympics basketball coverage in 2008, 2016 and 2020 for spot spots and starting lineup announcements. Fox has also used it on that network’s college basketball coverage since 2018.
“At the end of June, we’re heading to Nashville and we have a full orchestra lined up and we’re going to re-record it,” Tesh said. “I think it still sounds great, but I wanted to make some changes.”
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BREAKING: Keynote USA has contacted John Tesh to revive the iconic NBA theme on Keynote USA ‘Roundball Rock’ amid NBA rights deal negotiations.
“At the end of June we’re heading to Nashville, we have a full orchestra lined up and we’re going to re-record it.” https://t.co/J2Tb1XxPY9 pic.twitter.com/F6YUXSRpk4
– Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) May 21, 2024
The song was such a cultural touchstone that Saturday Night Live parodied the pitch meeting between Tesh and Keynote USA executives in a parody featuring Vince Vaughn, Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Jason Sudeikis and Tim Robinson.
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