An NBA game on TV is really three separate products: the game itself, the skill of the video producers, and the entertainment of the commentators. The NBA can earn a lot more money, and fans can enjoy the game much more, if those parts were also sold separately.

Rent Out Live Feeds: Easy Money for the NBA

When you watch an NBA game on TV, you are really purchasing three separate products:

(1) The game itself, as viewed from multiple camera angles.
(2) The skill of the producers in picking the right camera angles on the fly and in doing replays.
(3) The entertainment of the commentators, which is itself in three parts:
    (a) The live play-by-play.
    (b) Analysis, history, and color commentating.
    (c) Interviews during time-outs and half-time.

The NBA can earn a lot more money, and fans can enjoy the game much more, if those parts were also sold separately.

How do you currently pay for the game? By being forced to watch commercials. Those commercials include not only the ads during time-outs and between quarters but also the product placements. You see the ads in the arena flashing by. You see the sponsorship of various awards given out by the commentators such as play-of-the-game or key matchup of the night. And the commentators sometimes just blatantly read scripts like radio announcers.

Sometimes the commentators are fantastic. Other times you sit there wishing you had a choice. With the availability of high-speed internet in the same room as your TV, wouldn't you love to see some live analysis on the plays each team is running pop up on your computer?

Imagine you are watching the game, same as always, except you also have a laptop nearby where you can surf a variety of sites, each of which is giving live analysis of the game in progress. They break down the plays and show what went right and what went wrong. They compare the live matchups and point out mismatches and suggest what the coach should do.

There is a wealth of basketball knowledge and talent out there and they aren't all limited to color commentators. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see what former NBA head coaches or college coaches think as they watch the game?

Wouldn't it be just like getting inside the head of both coaches on the sideline?

Wouldn't it be nice to have former referees talk about what they see and how the game is going?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to fiddle with camera angles entirely by yourself? Create your own clip show of the game?

There is a way to do that and to make this possible, and that is for the NBA to allow live re-broadcasts of the raw camera feeds. Let anyone who wants to edit them on the fly themselves and add their own commentary.

Let people compete to bring us the best commentary on the best athletes in the best sport on earth.

The NBA can certainly charge a fee for whoever wants to receive the raw feeds, and if it is free market auction-type scenario they will probably make even more money than they do with just the advertisements alone. Ah, the benefits of freedom and capitalism. Win-win-win all around: the NBA, the new cadre of analysts, and the fans.