NBC Sports Boston signed off – perhaps for the last time in the postseason – after Celtics’ last playoff game

Celtics NBC Sports Boston signed off — perhaps for the last time in the postseason — after Celtics’ last playoff game Starting next season, all first-round NBA playoff games will be national broadcasts. Drew Carter and Brian Scalabrine signed off Tuesday on their last Celtics playoff game of the season, if not beyond. Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe
When Drew Carter and Brian Scalabrine signed off Tuesday with a salute to producer Paul Lucey, director Jim Edmonds, and the many behind-the-scenes folks on NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics broadcasts, they were signing off from something else too.
The regional sports network’s broadcast of the Celtics’ series-clinching Game 5 victory over the Magic wasn’t just the last game Carter and Scalabrine will call this season, with all live games strictly national broadcasts for the second round and beyond.
It’s the last Celtics playoff game NBC Sports Boston will have for the foreseeable future, and most likely permanently.
Advertisement:
The new 11-year, $76-billion rights deal kicks in next season, with the expansion from two primary broadcast partners (the parent companies of ESPN/ABC and TNT) to three (ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon).
With that comes a change overlooked when the massive deal — and the dramatic exclusion of TNT — was announced: Regional sports networks would no longer be permitted to air first-round playoff games of their local teams. All first-round games, starting next season, will be national broadcasts.
For Celtics fans who prefer to spend the first round with Carter and Scalabrine — who are ingrained in the viewing experience and know the beats of the team much better than the national broadcasters — it’s disappointing to know it won’t be an option going forward.
Advertisement:
Celtics president Rich Gotham, whose responsibilities include navigating team and league broadcast partnerships, said he understands why fans would feel that way.
“Drew and Scal and NBC Sports Boston’s coverage is a big part of the Celtics fan experience,” said Gotham. “I feel for them. They’re such a big part of who we are and our brand and our family, really. I think our local fans would always kind of choose to tune into the local broadcast if given the option.”
The data backs that up. Per Sports Business Journal, when an NBA first-round playoff game aired both locally and nationally during the 2023-24 season, the local broadcast drew approximately 42 percent of the audience. But in Boston, Gotham said, more than 50 percent consistently watch on NBC Sports Boston.
The RSN had a huge year coming off the Celtics’ championship: its game broadcasts had more viewers than ever this season, and more than any other NBA team’s local broadcast.
The Celtics are king at NBC Sports Boston, making those covering the Red Sox prone to be being let loose. – Lane Turner/Globe Staff
But, said Gotham, sometimes tradeoffs have to be made. This is an understandable one, given the extra rights partner and the demand for quality content.
“With the new national television deal there are a couple of realities. One is there are more mouths to feed,” said Gotham. “These national partners are paying an awful lot of money for the rights to these games, and more money is being shifted in the professional sports landscape from regional to national. What comes along with that is they’re going to want more product.
Advertisement:
“The first round of the playoffs is obviously great programming. It’s tough to see NBC Sports Boston lose that next year. At the same time, it’s where the media rights market is going.”
Gotham said taking away first-round games from the RSNs has been on the negotiating table for years.
“We pushed back in the past, not wanting to give that up and wanting to be a good partner to NBC Sports Boston, which is a big part of our business and a big part of our brand,” he said. “Given the trends in the market with local cable subscriptions on the decline nationally, at this point in time, in this particular negotiation, it made more sense than it has in the past.”
Healey joining Globe
Tim Healey is joining the Globe as a Red Sox reporter, filling the opening created when Julian McWilliams departed for CBS Sports at the end of spring training. Healey, a Boston University graduate and former Globe co-op, has covered the Mets for Newsday since 2018. Previously, he covered the Marlins for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He will begin in June … ESPN and Ch. 5 agreed to a multi-year deal with the Boston Athletic Association to continue as the exclusive national and local broadcast partners for the Boston Marathon … Has anyone switched over to ESPN lately to see if Mel Kiper Jr. is still caterwauling about Shedeur Sanders? Good, neither have I. There’s a good lesson here for the first famous draftnik, though, not that I expect him to learn it: the draft, and only the draft, tells the truth about how the league perceives a player. The rest is just mock drafts and vapor.