With Eye on Sports-Betting Future, NBC Sports Washington To Air Its First Predict the Game Wizards Telecast Tonight The RSN views the format as a gateway to more sports-gambling-focused telecasts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 11, 2019 - 12:32 pm
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Tonight, NBC Sports Washington will embark on one of the most significant in-game sports-betting experiments of any U.S. sports network to date. During this evening's Washington Wizards-Milwaukee Bucks game, the RSN will debut an interactive live-game experience on NBC Sports Washington Plus, offering a free-to-play predictive-gaming contest with a $500 prize, along with real-time betting data and statistics.
CLICK HERE for a video example of the Predict the Game format
NBC Sports Washington will debut the Predict the Game format tonight on its Plus network during its Wizards-Bucks coverage.
I've always been focused on how we make our TV broadcasts more engaging for fans, says NBC Sports Washington SVP/GM Damon Phillips. We believe sports betting is going to be a valuable way to not only attract new viewers but also engage viewers for longer. The person we're going after here is the casual bettor. We're trying to introduce people to this new way of engaging, and, over time, we expect [betting] and microtransactions to be a big piece of what we do around these games. We feel that we need to be at the center of this transition because we have the live content.
Tonight's telecast - the first of eight Predict the Game broadcasts announced earlier this week - will feature a CNBC-style L-bar on-screen graphic displaying questions and various stats/data feeds throughout the broadcast. Approximately 30 questions will appear during the game, and viewers can submit their predictions online, monitoring their success via leaderboards throughout the game.
Betting-Friendly Footprint: DC, Delaware, West Virginia
Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports gambling, giving states the go-ahead to allow betting on sports. Since then, legal sportsbooks have opened in more than a half dozen states, including Delaware and West Virginia (both in NBC Sports Washington's distribution footprint). In the District of Columbia, legislation to allow sports betting has been passed and is awaiting final approval.
With the [legislative] movement we've seen in our footprint, [greenlighting Predict the Game] made a lot of sense for us, says Phillips. The second key piece is, we have terrific partners with [Wizards and Capitals owner] Monumental Sports & Entertainment. They were behind us right from the start.
Inside the Telecast: Informing Without Overwhelming
The Predict the Game telecasts on NBC Sports Washington Plus will overlay the main game telecast with an L-bar graphic displaying real-time data. The questions will appear in the bottom bar along with up-to-date gambling info (the spread, money line, total); game/player stats will be in the right-side bar.
Our primary goal is to better engage fans, but we don't want to overwhelm them, notes Mark Friedman, director, creative services and advanced technology, NBC Sports Washington. We're keeping the whole 16:9 picture of the game, but you've got more details around the side and bottom. Think of when CNBC started putting financial-data feeds all over the screen: people thought it was nuts. Now it is the standard for getting your financial news.
Beyond a few calls-to-action by on-air talent early in the game, no changes have been made to the production team's workflow in the truck, according to Friedman. Production of the L-bar feature will originate from network headquarters in Bethesda, MD. Friedman will oversee playout of on-screen elements/questions, with a handful of staffers manually updating the leaderboard throughout the game.
The goal is not to interrupt our main production at all, he points out. They have so many sponsor and marketing obligations to get in already; we didn't want to clutter that up with even more [content]. The long-term goal is for this to be 95% automatic because it is all driven by data feeds; you just press a button.
Fans can go to NBCSportsWashington.com/predict to play the game for free.
NBC Sports Washington began experimenting with a lightweight prototype of the format during a handful of telecasts last spring. Then Friedman and company worked with the NBC Sports Group creative team in Stamford, CT, to come up with the final on-screen look for the Predict the Game telecasts.
We wanted to stay with the same general NBC Sports look and keep within our overall graphics package to promote the NBC Sports brand, Friedman explains. But we also want to keep [the viewer] visually stimulated and interested, so there are different colors and there's a lot of movement. Every time there's a new question, an animation will [play out] at the bottom of the screen to introduce it.
Phillips expects the strategy to evolve over the eight-game series: Our goal is for the eighth game to look pretty different from the first game because we're going to continue to build upon what we learn with each game.
How It Works: The Predict the Game Interface
Asked to predict various game and player performance outcomes through a series of questions (six to 10 per quarter, according to Friedman) appearing on screen during the telecast, fans will earn points for correct predictions, with the top eligible scorer at the end of the game earning or splitting the $500 prize.
The Predict the Game format will feature an L-bar graphic throughout the telecast.
You don't necessarily have to know anything about basketball or either team; you can just sit and watch and play, says Friedman. If we ask a question about Bradley Beal, then we expect you're
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With Eye on Sports-Betting Future, NBC Sports Washington To Air Its First Predict the Game Wizards Telecast Tonight The RSN views the format as a gateway to more sports-gambling-focused telecasts By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
