ESPN signed a multiyear extension with The Basketball Tournament, the winner-take-all $2M summer tournament that launched in '14. Through a revenue-sharing deal, ESPN will broadcast at least 15 tournament games on ESPN or ESPN2 this year. That is up from nine games it aired last year. ESPN also committed to carry all 63 games, mostly on ESPN3. The tournament starts July 8. More than 350 teams applied last year to be part of the tournament, which accepts 64 teams mostly comprised of recently retired NBA players and former college players. ESPN views the tournament as easy summer programming, even if the ratings so far have been unspectacular. Last year, for example, the Aug. 2 final averaged 344,000 for a primetime Tuesday night. The two July 30 semifinals averaged 365,000 viewers from 5:00-7:05pm and 373,000 viewers from 7:05-9:37pm. Self described “basketball junkie” Fran Fraschilla, who calls the games for ESPN, said he has noticed more excitement around the games, with former college stars looking to create teams that can compete in the tournament. “What started out as this strange novelty event has turned into a tournament where the Buzz grows every year,” Fraschilla said. “This is a fun summer event. The level of play is definitely rising.” Fraschilla pointed to former Pitt star Brad Wanamaker as an example of the type of player who competes. Wanamaker, who joined other former Pitt players on a TBT team called The Untouchables, still plays in Europe and last year was named MVP of Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga. A Turkish team coached by former Cavaliers coach David Blatt signed Wanamaker to a multi-million dollar deal, putting his participation in this summer’s TBT in question.
