ESPN has confirmed that it will air "The Decision" tomorrow night at 9:00pm ET, when free agent F LeBron James will announce the team he will play for next season. Stuart Scott will host the special, with NBA analysts Michael Wilbon and Jon Barry appearing on the show. Jim Gray will conduct the first interview with James, during which he will announce his decision. Wilbon also plans to have a longer sit down with James. The show will be co-presented by the Univ. of Phoenix and Bing. Vitaminwater and McDonald's will sponsor the program, and Nike and Sprite will make contributions to the Boys & Girls Club of America, which will receive proceeds from the show. The organization will use the money to build basketball courts. James and his marketing company, LRMR Marketing, secured the sponsors for this unique event. ESPN plans to expand "SportsCenter" to three hours leading into "The Decision." It also will telecast "SportsCenter" from 10:00pm-midnight. Meanwhile, Wilbon interviewed G Dwyane Wade and F Chris Bosh on "SportsCenter" this afternoon at 12:30pm where they announced plans to sign with the Heat. Wade was televised via satellite from Miami, while Bosh was in Dallas ( John Ourand, THE DAILY ). ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard cites sources as indicating that James' representatives "contacted the network, proposing that James makes his announcement" on ESPN ( ESPN.com, 7/7 ). In N.Y., Marc Berman notes it is unclear if the six teams James met with last week -- the Cavaliers, Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Clippers and Heat -- "will be debriefed beforehand or it will be treated like a state secret." There has been speculation that James "originally was going to announce his decision" at his Nike camp in Akron, which ends today. A source said that James "won't be in" ESPN's N.Y. or Bristol studios to make the announcement ( N.Y. POST, 7/7 ). IN THE WORKS FOR SOME TIME : In Cleveland, Brian Windhorst cites sources as saying that James' plans for a special "were in the works in some form for months," having talked with ESPN "about filming his entire free-agency process for a documentary." Those plans for a while included discussion "to take a tour across the country and visit interested teams." Those plans "were scrapped" after the Cavaliers lost to the Celtics in the playoffs and James "played several of the worst playoff games of his career." However, it "ultimately seems to have led to the strategy to capture the basketball world's attention with a never-before-seen television special" ( Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/7 ). SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS : In N.Y., Jonathan Abrams notes anticipation has mounted that James "would use social media outlets as a conduit to release the news of his destination." After recently "activating his dormant" website, James also activated his "King James" Twitter account yesterday and "gained more than 85,000 followers before his first message, which broke his public silence from the start of free agency." James' first post read in part, "Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building 'Finally'" ( N.Y. TIMES, 7/7 ). The account has 234,365 followers at presstime ( THE DAILY ). On Long Island, Jim Baumbach notes fans who register on James' website are greeted with the message, "You'll be the first to know." James' publicist, Keith Estabrook, said, "That's part of promotion and marketing." Baumbach notes the "intent of the message is ambiguous, and perhaps intentionally so, considering how James and his small inner circle have appeared to revel in creating mystery behind his decision" ( NEWSDAY, 7/7 ). Meanwhile, ESPN's Skip Bayless said, "It's stunning to me that in July of 2010, the world's most popular athlete … is just now opening up his first website, and he just yesterday joined Twitter." Bayless: "It took this long for him to come to this?" ( "ESPN First Take," ESPN2, 7/ 7). CROSSING THE LINE? In DC, David Kay believes James' ESPN special tomorrow night "could realistically become the highest rated sixty minutes ever in cable television history." Kay: "I am not sure if it's genius, egotistical, ridiculous, or the perfect ending to what has been months upon months of speculation as to where LeBron James will land" ( WASHINGTONTIMES.com, 7/7 ). In N.Y., Frank Isola writes, "James' self-importance reached new levels of absurdity Tuesday night" ( N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/7 ). ESPN.com's J.A. Adande notes "people simultaneously complain about LeBron and enable him," and it is "not as if James will be delivering his news into an absence of interest." Adande: "This is almost two decades in the making, a product of culture that long ago removed the borders between reality and reality TV" ( ESPN.com, 7/7 ). FOXSPORTS.com's Brian Lowry wrote James is a "marvelous talent, of course, but the coverage’s breathless tone has bordered on the absurd" ( FOXSPORTS.com, 7/6 ). TWITTER WORLD ERUPTS : Several pundits used Twitter to take exception with the ESPN-LeBron special. ESPN's Jemele Hill : "When someone told me LBJ was announcing his free agt decision on ESPN, I thought they were joking. Great 4 us, terrible move by LeBron." ESPN's Michelle Beadle : "Seriously??? Ugh." ESPN's Howard Bryant : "LeBron James announcing his announcement on television tells me he's far more interested in his fame than his game. 11 players and then him." ESPN L.A.'s Kamenetzky Brothers : "Seriously, how does LBJ kill an HOUR? Opening monologue? Stupid human tricks? Musical act?" Buffalo News' Mike Harrington : "LeBron, just go away. An hour special on ESPN? How self-indulgent are you? Ridiculous. This entire NBA situation is absurd." Miami Herald's Dan Le Batard : "Two months of buildup on tv? Not enough. Two weeks of adnauseum tv time? Not enough. Larry king? Not enough. Imagine if he'd won something." N.Y. Daily News' Frank Isola : "Is there no one from LeBron's camp who thinks they might be turning off a few fans with this nonsense. Where have you gone Michael Jordan?" Goodwin Sports Management's Nate Jones : "It's times like these that you realize that LeBron is just 25 and most of the guys in his circle are pretty young too." The Boston Globe's Eric Wilbur : "Not to make too much out of it, but this LeBron crap makes me fear for humanity going forward." Broadcasting & Cable's Ben Grossman : "Every Non-ESPN reporter will now do anything they can to wreck the Thursday announcement by breaking the news. More motivation than before." TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote this summer's free agency has "put a spotlight on NBA insiders/reporters who might as well have been working in a bunker during the regular season." ESPN reporters like Ric Bucher and Chris Broussard are "getting maximum exposure," but they are "over exposed" in the process. Raissman: "Having to serve all these masters makes it impossible to come up with fresh material on a regular -- like hourly -- basis" ( N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/4 ). In Las Vegas, Ed Graney writes ESPN is a "powerful entity but not until times like this, or when Brett Favre decides he hasn't had enough face time of late, can we truly comprehend the network's reach and influence." The network can "make a story such as this as big as it wants, and it has chosen to create the perception that anything to do with James and his free-agent buddies should be followed like one might a police chase of a white Bronco with a former NFL star in the back seat." Graney: "We eat it up. Every unnamed source. Every reported rumor. Every ounce of conjecture" ( LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/7 ).
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