Pacers Take Over WTHR for "Business of Basketball"

by Jeff Tzucker

March 7, 2013

On Tuesday, March 5, the Pacers took over the WTHR Channel-13 headquarters for a crash course in the "Business of Basketball", an NBA-required program for each team.

Photos: Pacers Visit WTHR »

While past Pacers teams spent time in a more traditional classroom-like setting for the program, they broke the mold this year and looked for an innovative way to engage the players. Leveraging the Pacers’ partnership with WTHR, the franchise saw an opportunity to go behind the scenes of a TV station to show parallels between the two businesses while providing the players a fun experience.

"Everyone stepped up to embrace trying something different and new in an effort to have a positive impact on our player's development," said Clark Kellogg, the Pacers VP of Player Development.

After a short introduction to the event by Pacers and WTHR staff members, the players were separated in to four groups, each a mix of new players and Pacers veterans. The groups then rotated through four “stations”: News, Marketing, Community Relations, and Sales. Each station was headed by a member of the Pacers and WTHR staff who presented what they did and took questions from the players.

More Videos: Pacers Discuss Season »   Visiting WTHR »

At the end of the program, the players joined the 5:30 newscast and filled both on- and off-camera roles. Behind the scenes, George Hill worked a camera while Lance Stephenson ran the TelePrompter. On camera, Tyler Hansbrough sat at the anchor desk with Scott Swan and Anne-Marie Tiernon, Ben Hansbrough helped Chris Wright introduce the Weather, and Paul George, Orlando Johnson, and Danny Granger took over Dave Calabro’s Sports Jam.

Reflecting back, Kellogg thought everything "went quite well."

"The collaboration, effort, and enthusiasm shown by everyone involved really achieved the intended purpose," Kellogg said. “It was an educational and fun experience for our players from a unique perspective."

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