MSG Network’s Mike Breen used his final regular-season broadcast Sunday to publicly criticize the NBA’s decision to bar local television networks from airing first-round playoff games.
The NBA playoffs begin Tuesday with the Play-In Tournament, but the change has drawn pushback from the Knicks’ longtime play-by-play voice, who called it a poor decision for fans.
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“I personally think it’s a poor decision,” Breen said. “Fans want to hear their team’s announcers, at least in the first round, because for so many of us, and that’s for all of my favorite teams growing up, the home team announcers become part of the family and such a big part of why you root for the team.”
During Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets, Breen was reading a promo about Knicks pre- and postgame shows when he addressed the change directly. This marks the first year local team networks will not be permitted to broadcast first-round playoff games.
ABC, ESPN and NBC will broadcast games, with some appearing on Peacock and Amazon Prime Video streaming services. The Play-In Tournament will air exclusively on Prime.
Breen, who also calls national games for ABC, said he understood networks and streaming services paid substantial money for broadcast rights, but suggested local broadcasts should be “thrown a bone” to better serve fans.
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“If there’s any way it could ever work out, some kind of compromise, I’m not hopeful for that, but it would be wonderful to have it, because this is our final telecast of the season,” Breen said.
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