ESPN Dumps Utah Jazz National TV Broadcast
Feb 28, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz forward Trevor Booker (33) holds the ball as Milwaukee Bucks center Zaza Pachulia (27) defends during the third quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
The Utah Jazz didn’t have many national television games scheduled for the 2014-15 NBA season. Now they have one less after ESPN dumped the scheduled Utah Jazz national TV broadcast scheduled for March 18, 2015 in Salt Lake City with the Washington Wizards.
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So, sorry, Utah Jazz fans, no Trevor Booker revenge game on ESPN.
The Wizards won the first meeting with Utah, in Washington, and while Booker wasn’t anything to write home about, he played his usual energy game ending the night with 8 points, 9 rebounds and an assist.
“The Mothership,” as ESPN is sometimes referred to for it’s domination of the sports broadcasting market, opted to pick up the curtain call — barring an NBA Finals meeting — of the NBA’s two best teams this season instead, who happen to be playing their rematch on the same evening, unfortunately for Jazz fans.
"The [Atlanta] Hawks at [Golden State] Warriors game scheduled for March 18 has been picked up by ESPN, the NBA announced Tuesday.The game replaces the previously scheduled Wizards at Jazz game.The Hawks-Warriors game will be part of an ESPN double-header at air at 10:30 p.m. It will follow the Magic at Mavericks game at 8 p.m.The Nuggets at Warriors game on April 15 has been dropped to accommodate the additional game.The Hawks and Warriors currently have the top two records in the NBA. The Hawks defeated the Warriors,. 124-116, on Feb. 6.–Atlanta Journal Constitution, March 3, 2015"
Utah Jazz fans often already feel slighted by ESPN concerning highlights, so this won’t help matters any on that front. See what I mean?
@PurpleandBlues1 typical @espn doesn't give @utahjazz win decent highlight coverage #UTAatMEM
— Mario don’t run me over (@MarioBikes1) March 4, 2015
Author: This tweet literally came in while I was writing this piece. Thanks, Mario!
The Utah Jazz, after an admittedly dismal 2013-14 campaign where they won only only 25 games, losing 57, weren’t favored by many national pundits coming into the 2014-15 NBA season — or Las Vegas odds makers either, who predicted the Jazz to win only 24 or 25 games. Utah garnered win number 24 in Memphis against the Grizzlies March 3rd and has the easiest remaining schedule of any Western Conference team according to strength of schedule.
Utah’s little blue ball just got a little smaller, as if it got kicked by James Harden or were some planet at the edge of the solar system
Nor TV broadcast schedule-makers, evidently.
The Utah Jazz national TV broadcast schedule for 2014-15 originally slated the young dynamos to appear three times: Twice on NBA TV, losing on November 22, 2014 in Salt Lake to the New Orleans Pelicans behind 43 points and 14 rebounds from Anthony Davis, and this Sunday’s March 8, 2015 tilt in Brooklyn with the Nets.
The third Utah Jazz national TV broadcast game was the one that just got the ax from ESPN.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder have the most nationally televised games of the 2014-15 NBA season, with 32 apiece. The Utah Jazz now join the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks as the NBA teams with the least national exposure this season, at only two games each.
The graphic below lists all 30 NBA teams’ national TV broadcast frequency, before the recent flex scheduling gave Utah and Denver the boot. It’s an awesome, interactive graphic from our big sister Bleacher Report that you can play with by clicking here.
The Utah Jazz national TV broadcast schedule just went from three games to two for 2014-15
So, Utah’s little blue ball just got a little smaller, as if it got kicked by James Harden or were some planet at the edge of the solar system that no one can decide if it’s a planet or not.
Man, talk about a barren, rocky wasteland.
The current game time for Washington at Utah on March 18, 2015 is currently the same time originally scheduled for the national broadcast, 10:30 p.m. eastern, but is likely to change to the usual 9:00 p.m. eastern starting time for games scheduled in Utah (7 p.m. local time).
We’ll let you know, of course, if it does.