The worldwide craving for new sports content was finally satiated this week when ESPN and Netflix released the first episodes of “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary extravaganza on Michael Jordan’s last season with the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. In an era in which coronavirus has all but halted the sports world, people around the globe are tuning in. The live U.S. audience Sunday evening was 6.1 million viewers, one of the best ratings for ESPN’s original content series. And since Netflix started streaming the documentary to international audiences earlier this week, count on the number of viewers to climb exponentially.
What “The Last Dance” has managed to achieve to a certain degree is a shared sense of experiencing a sports-related event together. Importantly, because of the near simultaneous international release, it is a globally shared experience. Such shared experiences help create common bonds, which normally are forged by events like the Olympics or FIFA World Cup that enable people around the world to anticipate and watch the same event, then engage in the resulting postmortem discussions. Here’s a good read in The Athletic that goes behind the scenes with director Jason Hehir to help round out your conversations about the series. But what all of this does is produce a shared history, even if it is shaded slightly differently from account to account.
These communal events and sentiments have been largely absent since mid-March as public heath concerns rightly shuttered live sports the world over. And with the Tokyo 2020 Games, UEFA European Championship, and other sporting mega events now postponed until 2021, “The Last Dance” fills a very needed void.
But I’m most interested in how “The Last Dance” depicts Jordan’s global impact and influence on growing the game beyond American borders. Take Episode One, in which the storytelling lens shifts to Paris as Jordan and the Bulls descend for their October 1997 preseason game at Bercy Arena. Hoping onwards episodes will return to the international lens to tease out how this last season helped grow the game, not just the number of championship rings on MJ’s hand.
MJ Virtual Discussion
Michael Jordan is an unlikely revolutionary, but one whose drive and ability to market his image and brand changed the game, the NBA, and basketball culture around the globe. One of the greatest players of all time, he racked up six NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls, more than a dozen NBA All-Star appearances, numerous Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, and two Olympic gold medals with Team USA (1984, 1992). Jordan’s role as part of the original U.S. Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Games captured imaginations around the world and inspired generations of players, alongside his 15-season NBA career played a hugely significant role globalizing the league and driving boys and girls from all six continents to “Be Like Mike.”
Be sure to join me and international colleagues on May 26th for the Centre for International Studies & Diplomacy (SOAS University of London) virtual roundtable on Michael Jordan and his global impact. More information and registration (free but mandatory) is here.