NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director Pierre Moossa
The team meets the challenge of honoring a legacy in a new age of technology
For the first time in more than two decades, the NBA is returning to NBC, and with it comes a new era of production innovation and storytelling. As NBC Sports prepares to relaunch its iconic NBA coverage this fall, the broadcaster has assembled an elite team of production veterans to bring the game to fans in fresh, dynamic ways. Along with Executive Producer Sam Flood, Coordinating Producer Frank DiGraci and Director Pierre Moossa will guide the look, feel, and energy of The NBA on NBC across Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday broadcasts.
For Moossa, who began his career as a graphics operator on The NBA on NBC in the 1990s, this moment is a homecoming, a chance to honor the legacy of the original broadcasts while shaping a new chapter for a new generation of fans. For DiGraci, a longtime director for Brooklyn Nets games on YES Network, the move from regional to national coverage represents both a creative challenge and a dream opportunity to showcase his signature mix of storytelling, energy, and authenticity on a national stage.
SVG sat down with Moossa and DiGraci ahead of tonight’s tip-off to discuss how they’re preparing for launch, the production philosophies guiding the NBA revival, and how they plan to capture the passion, precision, and pageantry of the league’s long-awaited return to network television.
NBC Sports’ Frank DiGraci: “We’ll have four crews, and all the crews are going to be equal in terms of their size. We’ll do about 35% of the games remotely in Stamford.”
Frank, how is it different going to national coverage versus regional coverage?
DiGraci: When I was at YES, we worked with national talent, and they’re the ones that gave me the confidence that I could make this jump. There is a thought of national versus regional, and they were just telling me, when I get here, to “do your game we’ve been doing, it’s going to translate.” They’ve given me the confidence that, at the end of the day, it’s basketball. So how do you present basketball graphically, with replay and storylines? It’s all the same. The biggest difference is, I have to focus on two teams 50-50 versus focusing on the home team. But, once the ball’s in the air, it’s just playing basketball.
NBC Sports’ Pierre Moossa: “We all feel a tremendous responsibility to carry on the legacy of The NBA on NBC, while also helping a whole new generation of people truly appreciate the game.”
Pierre, your first job in the business was on The NBA on NBC. What does it mean to you to be back?
Moossa: Yes, it’s truly full circle for me. Straight out of college, I joined NBC and did graphics for the NBA Playoff right off the bat. I got to work with Tom Hammond, Snapper Jones, and Bill Walton. It was a dream come true for me to be doing the NBA, but to be a part of that team specifically was amazing because all we did was laugh — on and off the court. They made you love hoops, and that was my introduction to the business. The final year of The NBA on NBC, I got to work with Marv Albert, and we did the NBA Finals where the Lakers swept the Nets in four games. It was the end of an era and was truly heartbreaking for all of us. When I found the NBA was coming back to NBC, it was beyond exciting and brought back a lot of great memories for me personally.
What kind of production enhancements will we see on NBC’s coverage compared with other broadcasters?
DiGraci: First, everything’s going to be 1080p HDR, so we start there. And the number of high-frame-rate cameras is definitely going to be an increase; it’s going to be a lot more than I think you’ve seen on NBA in the past. There are also technology enhancements in the studio, and we’re still working on some interesting things around audio. But the foundation for me is more super-slo-mos.
Moossa: You’re going to see [specialty cameras] like Steadicams, SkyCams, and drones on [selected games], especially later in the season and in the playoffs. But I [agree with Frank] that what’s going to distinguish every broadcast is the number of super-slo-mo cameras. All our cameras will be super-slo-mo except for the game camera and the Steadicam. Between that and [the broadcast] being in 1080p HDR, [we can] capture a level of detail — especially on those close out-of-bounds plays — that I don’t think has been seen before on NBA coverage. It may not be as exciting as a new toy, but, with those two [production elements], our coverage is going to look, sound, and feel different.
How will you look to seamlessly integrate the new On the Bench feature into your coverage?
Moossa: On the Bench is going to offer a whole new level of insight for the fan. [Viewers] are going to see our analyst sitting right on the bench next to the team, both sides. Our job is to document that unique and privileged position and, ultimately, provide our analyst with the opportunity to share that perspective with fans. It’s up to our cameras and our replay devices to capture the insight of what they’re showing so we can help the viewer appreciate that.
Aside from On the Bench, how are you looking to cover the action off the court and bring the in-arena atmosphere to the broadcast?
Moossa: When [Flood] was preparing for this season, he went to a Celtics game and sat in the cheap seats just to take in the atmosphere. His biggest takeaway was that much cool stuff is happening in the arena that you don’t see in the broadcast. He challenged us to make sure we capture the excitement and energy of the arena. That means live intros, courtside celebrities, player arrivals, and those kinds of things. There is so much energy at the game, but sometimes that doesn’t translate in television. Our job is to find a way to translate that through camera shots, replays, audio, and all the other tools we have at our disposal.
How are you handling crews, considering that you will have three nights of games each week once Sunday Night Football ends?
DiGraci: Sometimes we’re going to have six games in three nights or, on Martin Luther King Day, we have four games with two games the next night. Once Sunday kicks in [in February], we’re on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. You couldn’t do it with the same people. We’ll have four crews, and all the crews are going to be equal in terms of their size. We’ll do about 35% of the games remotely here in Stamford as this building is made for remote.
Can you provide some details on the new graphics look and new theme?
DiGraci: By the time I joined, NBC had already started working on that, but the goal is, Sunday Night Basketball will have a look and feel, the Monday game on Peacock will have its own look and feel, and the Tuesday primetime games will have their own look and feel. Even though it’s one big family, it will be a little different each night.
How have you two worked to build a rapport heading into Opening Night?
Moossa: First of all, my wife works at Yes Network, so I have known Frank casually through her for many years. But, immediately after we found out we would be working together, we had breakfast and started going over all the various aspects of how we each work. The Yes Network team was gracious enough to let me sit right at the front bench to observe two of Frank’s games. That is pretty unheard of, so I give them plenty of credit. It allowed me to get a feel for how he works and how he covers the game. When you’re doing a game, you [and your producer] create your own language and shorthand; it’s like creating your own Rosetta Stone. Being able to sit in the truck and see him work gave me a head start on that.
And how about building that chemistry with the rest of your crew?
Moossa: In July, we had a bootcamp in San Francisco where we brought the trucks out and did multiple days of games with and without announcers. We tested all our workflows and got to do a bunch of games together as a team. That wasn’t just our team; multiple teams came out, and we all worked together. They also did multiple games from Stamford as well since we’ll be doing about one-third of the games remotely from there. Every aspect of the coverage was proof-of-concept–tested, and that gave us all confidence. Now it’s just about working on the nuances, because building the chemistry is important for any new production team. We’re excited to work together, and I can’t wait to get started.
What role do you feel that you play in putting your on-air talent in a position to succeed? Frank, in your work on Nets broadcasts over the years, how did your talent create that energy that could be loose and funny but also ready for the big moments?
DiGraci: [Lead Brooklyn Nets announcer] Ian Eagle is by far my mentor for that. You can’t have a better person than him in that role; his instincts are unbelievable. He taught me that we look at things from the outside, like when the Sunday Night Football crew caught a fan going right up the stairs with one of the balls [in Buffalo]. It’s about knowing when to do that sort of thing: if you’re in the second quarter, you can be a little looser, but, once the game gets down to the nitty-gritty, you have to be able to turn it on that way, too. That’s where the balance is. It’s about the time in the game and the instincts of the talent.
And, Pierre, what is your role in working with talent and making sure they deliver the best broadcast possible?
Moossa: What’s really cool in any broadcast, it’s sort of a dance. You have the play-by play, the analyst or analysts, and the producer and director. At various points, one person is the lead, and everybody’s going to follow, and you rotate who takes the lead. If [play-by-play callers] Mike [Tirico] and Noah [Eagle] has a story to tell, they lead the direction. Or analysts will want to break something down, and they lead. Or Frank may see a replay, or I might have a camera shot that sets off a story. You’re constantly trying to follow each other. It’s not about just the chemistry between me and Frank; it’s a broader chemistry with the talent and the entire production and technical teams.
It’s still early, but can you tease any production plans for NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A. this coming February?
Moossa: Big-picture–wise, it is going to have all the resources you would expect for an event of that scale, and we certainly are going to have the ability to capture every possible angle you can think of. We’ve had two surveys, and I think we have a good plan of coverage, but a lot of it also depends on what the competition format ends up being. We will adjust depending on how that shakes out, but we feel like we have every single angle you could possibly want to capture.
Obviously, the All-Star game isn’t just about the competition; it’s about everything around it. That means red carpets, celebrities, and the overall atmosphere. By the way, [the Intuit Dome] is absolutely unreal so we’re going to make sure to show that building off as well. We feel like we have a solid plan, and, once we know what the competition is going to look like, we will modify our coverage a little bit to provide the best possible experience for the fans.
Frank, what are you most looking forward to in this new role?
DiGraci: I’m looking forward to working with all the different talent and meshing them together as that’s my background. As a producer, I just love being the extension of the talent, taking care of them, and making sure they’re in an A+ position to succeed. We have a lot of ex-players, and producers are like the head coach. That’s what I’m looking forward to: a new team, a new challenge. It’s exciting to be in a new environment and to get to know everybody and showcase and elevate their game as we present it on the air.
Pierre, how about you?
Moossa: I think I’m most excited to be working with this amazing group of people. We have a crew here that loves the NBA and is about as passionate as you can be about sport. We are going to celebrate the game as much as possible. We all feel a tremendous responsibility to carry on the legacy of The NBA on NBC, while also helping a whole new generation of people truly appreciate the game. We’re all custodians of the game and want to make sure we do right by the NBA.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
