NBC Sports is going all out to bring back the 1990s to the NBA with a modern twist.
Comcast’s sports division will use an AI-generated version of the late Jim Fagan’s voice for select title sequences, show opens and game promos during its NBA coverage beginning in the 2025-26 season. With permission from his family, Fagan’s AI-modeled voice will be used in addition to traditional work from other voiceover artists.
Fagan, who was a prominent voice actor for NBC programming, including its live sports coverage, died in 2017.
The news was first reported in The Athletic.
NBC Sports is leaning hard into the nostalgia of iconic broadcasting elements of its previous NBA rights-holding years between 1990 and 2002. Comcast reacquired the rights to “Roundball Rock,” the longtime theme for NBC’s NBA coverage created by former Entertainment Tonight host John Tesh. The amount paid was not disclosed, but Tesh most recently licensed the song to Fox for its college basketball telecasts.
On Sunday, NBC Sports announced the return of “Roundball Rock” in social media and linear TV promos featuring current NBA stars like the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Dončić as well as media personalities throughout the Comcast umbrella.
NBC held league rights in the height of the Michael Jordan era, but “Roundball Rock” and Fagan’s narration added gravitas to every game broadcast. Those pregame promos and commercial bumpers during NBC’s non-sports programming remain popular on YouTube with fans of that period in the NBA.
This is the second time NBC Sports has relied on AI to recreate the voice of an iconic sports broadcaster. During the Paris Olympics last summer, the sports group used the voice of Al Michaels for its AI-generated recap show on Peacock. The highlight show, Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock, was built around a subscriber’s preference. Hundreds of hours of Michaels’ previous work for Sunday Night Football were used to recreate his voice. A similar process is being used from Fagan’s work.
Although Comcast has the permission from Fagan’s family, the use of AI in voicework remains highly controversial. In recent years, several high-profile actors such as Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman have called out the unauthorized use of the technology to replicate their voice, image and likeness. In August 2024, the estate for comic legend George Carlin settled a lawsuit against Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, the hosts of the Dudesy podcast, for using generative AI to impersonate his voice without its permission.
Last summer, the NBA renewed its broadcast rights agreement with ESPN/ABC while also signing new deals with Comcast/NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video. The 11-year, $76 billion pacts also led to the end of the league’s 40-year relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports, though not without some legal drama. TNT’s final NBA telecast will be the last game of the Eastern Conference Finals, which could come as early as Game 4 on May 27 or as late as Game 7 on June 2.
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