Cavs CEO says previous broadcasts ‘lacked investment, lacked innovation’

The Cavaliers aren’t just changing where their games can be watched. They’re changing how they’ll look, too.

As part of the team’s new agreement with DAZN, the Cavs are bringing production of their broadcasts in-house through Rock Entertainment Sports Network. And CEO Nic Barlage made it pretty clear why.

“If you watched our games over the last handful of years, they lacked investment, they lacked innovation,” Barlage said, via Cleveland.com. “To nobody’s fault, frankly. The business was struggling. We wanted to control our own destiny.”

So they’re spending some money to do exactly that. Barlage said the Cavs have made a “multi-seven-figure commitment” to the new broadcasts, which will go from six cameras to 19. That’s quite a jump.

The production changes extend beyond equipment. Longtime Cavs game producer Brent Valenti has also left the organization to join the Grizzlies, meaning Cleveland will enter the DAZN era with a change behind the scenes as well.

The Cavs also say the new broadcasts will feature ultra-high-resolution 10.5K camera systems, predictive artificial intelligence, statistical overlays, mixed- and augmented-reality elements and an entirely new graphics package.

Fans who subscribe to the higher DAZN tier will also be able to use multiview and choose from alternate angles and feeds.

In other words, the idea is to make a Cavs broadcast look considerably different than the one fans watched last season.

The people calling the games mostly won’t be different. John Michael, Brad Daugherty and Serena Winters are returning, along with pre- and postgame host Cayleigh Griffin. Longtime analyst Austin Carr was not mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement.

The move comes after the collapse of FanDuel Sports Network Ohio, leaving the Cavs to find a new home for their local broadcasts. Most games will now require a DAZN subscription beginning at $19.99 per month, though 15 will be available free over the air.

There will be plenty of discussion about the price and accessibility of the new arrangement. But as far as the actual television product goes, the Cavs clearly didn’t want more of the same.