Michael Jordan set to make ‘special’ TV comeback 20 years after retirement — details

Michael Jordan is set to return to our television screens come this fall.

Over 20 years since his retirement from the NBA, the Chicago Bulls star — and the NBA itself — will be making a comeback with NBC.

The network, which has not aired the league since 2002, announced to advertisers during their NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday that the basketball legend would be joining their broadcast as a “special contributor” when their NBA coverage begins in the fall.

Per The Athletic, NBC Sports says it’s too early for specifics on Michael’s role, but he has been fully involved in discussions with the company on what the role will become.

He made an appearance at the upfronts via video, and expressed his excitement both about the forthcoming role and the NBA’s return to NBC.

NBA x NBC

The league’s return to the network after almost 20 years is part of an 11-year media agreement with the Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video they signed last year, which will run through the 2035-36 season and expand the reach of NBA telecasts.

© Getty Images

A press release at the time indicated that the NBA App will be a universal access point for viewers, and will seamlessly direct fans to every national game on Disney, NBCU and Amazon platforms.

The agreement was announced just as the summer 2024 Olympics in Paris — which were broadcast on NBC and Peacock — kicked off, which made for a significant surge in viewership for both NBCUniversal and the Olympics in general; viewership average was up 82% from the Tokyo Olympics, with a total audience delivery average of 30.4 million viewers, and the Opening Ceremony was the most watched since 2012, with 28.6 million viewers.

© Bettmann Archive

The Jordan effect

It was in large part thanks to Michael that NBC Sports viewership soared during his reign in the 1990s, during which the NBA aired on NBC, and during which the Chicago Bulls won six NBA titles.

A 1999 report from the New York Times described NBC as having been “blessed” by Michael. Listing some Nielsen ratings, it stated that during the last regular season at the time, the eight Bulls telecasts averaged a 6.5 rating, 71 percent better than the 17 other broadcasts, and the Bulls’ 1998 playoff games — minus the finals — averaged a 10.9 rating, 102 percent above telecasts without Chicago.

© Getty

“Jordan’s presence had a dramatic effect on the air and off the air,” Harvey Schiller, then the president of Turner Sports (TNT), said at the time.

“It’s unique to have been in a partnership with the NBA for eight years, and to have had this fairy dust sprinkled on us,” Dick Ebersol, then chairman of NBC Sports and still a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, told the Times, noting: “I’d be crazy to say that there weren’t a large number of people who watched the finals just because of Michael.”