Nba All-Star Weekend Has Something For Everyone

First, you’ve got TNT’s “NBA All-Star Friday Night,” followed by a bunch of specials. Then, Saturday, there’s the “NBA TeamUp Celebration” on six networks simultaneously, a million dollar shot, a rookie game, 3-point shootout and slam-dunk competitions, and Sunday there is the All-Star game on NBC.

“I think what it’s become is an all-star weekend, and that can mean a whole lot of things to a whole lot of people,” NBA Entertainment programming vice president Gregg Winik said.

To TV, it means programming, and if it seems a bit much, well, you’re probably not male, aged 18-34 or college educated, and your favorite shoe is probably an Air Wingtip. In other words, you’re out of it. Decidedly uncool.

“We have 25 sets of commentators arriving, besides those for TNT and NBC,” Winik said. “We’ll have up to 172 countries airing the All-Star game in 39 languages,” including Flemmish and Icelandic.

Credit the game’s simplicity, some international superstars such as Michael Jordan, and the 1992 Dream Team for its worldwide popularity, but what makes it so important to U.S. TV is its demographics: young, educated American males.

It’s a young game that has captured young imaginations.

“You saw what Ken Burns did with the history of baseball for public television, starting back in the 1840s or ‘50s,” Winik said. “We don’t have that type of history. We’ve got a lot of videotape, not too many still pictures.”

To wit, all but one of the so-called 50 greatest NBA players of all time are living and will participate in a halftime show Sunday that is part of the NBA’s 50th birthday celebration.

“Only Pete Maravich passed away,” Winik said. “So you’ve got Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, all the greats. They can tell you what it was like to play in Sheboygan.”

Want more youth?

Take the TeamUp Celebration: NBA superstars like Shaquille O’Neal and recording superstar LL Cool J, bringing the message of community involvement to 10,000 school kids from Cleveland in Gund Arena, televised by NBC, TNT, Nickelodeon, BET, Telemundo and Canada’s YTV.

“You can’t even imagine the energy in that building,” Winik said.

“This is the most intense thing we do all year,” Winik said. “Even the NBA Finals are just a game every couple of days. This is about TeamUp, All-Star Saturday Night, slam dunk, the 3-point contest, and the rookie game. There’s a sense of excitement that almost equals the game. These things have captured the basketball fans.

“I mean, a few years ago, who’d even have thought we’d be selling seats to things like that.”