Bally Sports Indiana to televise 81 of 82 games; Eddie Gill named radio analyst for home games
All the familiar names are back. BSI is still unavailable on most streaming platforms. Here's all you need to know about the Pacers broadcast plan for the 2021-22 season.
All 82 Pacers games during the 2021-22 season will be televised, including 81 games locally on Bally Sports Indiana. It’s the same network with the same people you’re familiar — just rebranded. That became effective on March 31.
The network also plans to televise two of the four preseason games, both at home: Oct. 13 against the Grizzlies and Oct. 15 against the Cavaliers.
The only game that will not be televised by the local crew is Pacers at Heat on Dec. 31 because TNT has the exclusive broadcast rights.
Broadcasters across the league were together on Zoom meetings Thursday and Friday to prepare for another season. Their annual meetings are usually held in person.
Chris Denari (16th season), Quinn Buckner (23rd) and Jeremiah Johnson (8th) are back for their eighth season together. Former Pacers guard Eddie Gill (6th) will serve as the radio analyst with Mark Boyle (34th) for all home games, and appear on BSI’s pre- and post-game shows. Pat Boylan begins his 8th season as the host and sideline reporter on the Pacers Radio Network.
It is the first full season without the late Slick Leonard, who passed away in April, on the headset with Boyle in a long, long time. That successful pairing began during the 1994 NBA Playoffs.
As of now, the plan is for both Pacers radio and television broadcast teams to not travel, though that could change. While both groups do a great job remotely, as they’ve been required to do since the pandemic, it’s important that they return on the road soon. It’s a better product and viewers deserve that.
The TV broadcasters are planning to return to their courtside seats, which is a huge plus.
One thing that is different: The BSI set. Because of renovations, that has to be relocated from the entry pavilion.
What I wrote nine months ago is still true today: BSI is still not carried by popular streaming platforms like YouTube TV, Hulu, FuboTV and Sling TV; only DirecTV Stream. However, it is available from the popular cable distributors like Xfinity, Spectrum and AT&T, along with DirecTV.
The Pacers open the regular season with two consecutive road games, in Charlotte on Wednesday, Oct. 20 and Washington DC on Oct. 22. Twelve of their first 19 games are on the road.
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