Rob Bromley was in Indianapolis, preparing for his nightly newscast for Lexington, Ky.’s WKYT after the Wildcats advanced to the Final Four on Sunday night, when he got an email from his station. A phone call from Turner Sports followed.
“It came about pretty quickly and out of the blue,” Bromley said.
“It” was being chosen by Turner and CBS to be the play-by-play man for the Kentucky telecast for their Final Four matchup with Wisconsin. It’s part of a new initiative by Turner to broadcast the national semifinals from Dallas on three networks with the national broadcast on TBS and each team’s “home broadcast” on TNT and truTV.
“I saw when they announced it [the teamcast] in November, but it had long passed my mind,” Bromley said on Wednesday before heading to Texas.
For Bromley, yes, but it had been a selection months in the making. Bromley was one of 100 or so names on a list put together by Turner in November of possible broadcasters from teams the network thought likely to reach the Final Four.
Bromley formerly called Kentucky basketball and football games, but those broadcasts were phased out when regional networks took over the rights for the games in full. He is a 30-year veteran of Kentucky sports and is the nightly sports anchor for Lexington’s CBS affiliate, but it has been five years since he did play-by-play for a basketball game.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Bromley said. “I’ve never done anything on a nation-wide basis, just state-wide or regional. It’s pretty exciting. … It might take me a few minutes to get into the flow of the thing, I don’t know, but I am looking forward to it.”
Bromley’s analyst will be former Kentucky and NBA sharpshooter Rex Chapman, with Dave Baker doing the sideline work. It’s the first time Bromley and Chapman have worked on a telecast together.
“I think there are always nerves involved when you go on the air, the adrenaline always gets going,” said Bromley, an upstate New York native. “It doesn’t matter what it is. That’s the way I’ve always felt about it. I am not going to sit here and tell you that I am not going to be somewhat nervous.”
Chapman has more experience on the national broadcasting stage, working briefly as an analyst for TNT during the NBA playoffs in 2005 and 2006. He also worked in the studio for truTV during the First Four games last season.
The idea for the games is to give fans a hometown broadcast. But does hometown mean homer?
“I am not sure they necessarily want it from a homer standpoint, but a local feel and a telecast that’s going to provide a little bit of local flavor from those that have been in and around the program for years,” Chapman said.
“From everything I gather, it’s going to be a very unique thing and it’ll have some appeal.”