The Brooklyn Nets and Denver Nuggets had a Sunday afternoon matchup at the Barclays Center. But for about 30 minutes, technical difficulties made it difficult for fans to watch from home.
At around 3:43pm ET, with just under 10 minutes to go in the first quarter as Brooklyn led Denver by a score of 4-3, the Nets’ YES Network broadcast and the Nuggets broadcast on Altitude TV both went dark.
After five minutes of “We are experiencing technical difficulties, please stand by” being flashed on the screen, YES was able to get pregame hosts Chris Shearn and Frank Isola back into the studio without providing much information to either of them. Shearn initially stated the game wasn’t being played, citing a power outage in the arena, before he quickly corrected himself to note the Nets and Nuggets were actively playing. The arena was fine, allowing the game to continue, but an issue at the loading dock knocked out power for both broadcast trucks.
Due to technical difficulties, YES is working to return to Barclays Center to continue broadcasting Nuggets-Nets. Stay tuned to YES for the latest updates. pic.twitter.com/O5Wt8G0veK
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) March 19, 2023
Denver’s Altitude TV announced they were experiencing the same issue as YES and similarly used their studio crew to keep fans watching from home updated on the game.
Both our production truck and that of the @BrooklynNets is down. We know this isn’t ideal, and bizarre….
— AltitudeTV (@AltitudeTV) March 19, 2023
Almost 12 minutes after the game went dark, the video feed returned for YES, with Shearn and Isola continuing to hold down the commentary from the studio. And at 4:14, more than 30 minutes after the broadcast went dark, Ryan Ruocco and Richard Jefferson were finally back on the call. The broadcast for Altitude TV returned at a similar time.
“Well, we thank all of you joining us back at Barclays Center for your patience with our technical difficulties,” Ruocco said as he was finally able to welcome the audience back to the broadcast. “Our truck in the loading dock here at Barclays Center lost power and thus the absence for Richard and me, and our picture for a while. Big thanks to Chris and Frank in the studio, holding down the fort.”
Obviously, technical difficulties happen. 30 minutes is an unusually long time for that, though. But this was a nice job by the studio hosts for both networks stepping up and going on-air without even being briefed on what was happening at the arena.
