New view for USC basketball radio crews. Why aren’t they courtside this season?

If anything, Brad Muller, Derek Scott and Casey Manning are getting their steps in this season.

The home radio announcers for South Carolina’s basketball teams are about 15 games into calling broadcasts from their new vantage point from up in the media seating of Section 108 at Colonial Life Arena, located diagonally behind the visiting team’s basket. It’s unofficially about 90 steps — across the court and 17 rows up into the stands — from their courtside seats where they sat since the arena opened in 2002.

In their place, the university added eight ticketed courtside seats.

It’s another example of the decisions that college athletics departments face nowadays. Sometimes adding new revenue streams means disrupting tradition.

“The college athletics landscape as we know it has changed,” USC deputy athletic director and chief marketing officer Wesley Mallette told The State. “For the schools who are revenue sharing, and even for those who are not, everything you do, you have to look at from the standpoint of, are you still able to provide a great student-athlete experience? Are you still able to provide a good fan experience? Are you still able to provide a good media experience?

“But also, how are you able to continue to find ways to drive revenue? That’s just the world that we’re in right now.”

Why the change?

Adding these courtside seats wasn’t always an option . According to a university spokesman, the SEC informed schools in May that they were allowed to add additional premium courtside seating at basketball games . USC made the decision over the summer to move its radio crews .

An SEC spokesperson told The State that there was never a rule preventing USC and the rest of the SEC from moving their radio crews away from courtside. This is just the first season schools were able to put additional courtside seats in their place.

In the old days, USC’s “press row” was home to television, radio and print reporters. It’s now reserved for the live TV crew only.

When USC men’s basketball radio announcer Derek Scott posted to X/Twitter a view from his “new broadcast perch” ahead of the home opener Nov. 4 against North Carolina A&T, the response from fans and other broadcasters online was hardly positive.

“That’s an absolutely absurd place to put your play-by-play team,” one account replied. “Ridiculous....S Carolina is unserious about college basketball.”

“So TV still gets a plum spot courtside but you banish your own broadcast team to the corner,” former USC play-by-play announcer Andy Demetra wrote in a post responding to Scott’s photo. “It’s not like radio needs to see the action clearly and closely to do our jobs (it’s actually more vital for us). Very disappointing from my old stomping grounds @GamecocksOnline.”

Scott and women’s basketball radio announcer Brad Muller were not made available for interviews for this story.

Dave Goren, the National Sports Media Association president, professor at Wake Forest University and Demon Deacons digital football reporter, said his experience broadcasting from alternate positions has been challenging.

“Ultimately, it is a disservice to the fans of your school who are listening, because you’re making it harder on the play-by-play person to see accurately,” Goren told The State. “Uniforms have gotten so out of whack. A lot of times, the design of uniforms now make it almost impossible to read numbers. … If there’s a funky call, the official would typically come over to the broadcast crew and try to explain what happened. If you’re upstairs or not there on the court, you don’t get that benefit.”

USC’s Mallette told The State that while he understands any fan frustration with the change . Adding the courtside seats was simply too much of a financial incentive for the athletic department to pass up.

“Nothing is done to harm people, nothing is done intentionally,” Mallette said. “Everything is done based on that set criteria: What do we need to do to make sure that the program, the student-athletes, the fans, everyone involved, is in as best a position as possible?”

The university was also able to add eight more courtside seats on the teams’ side of the court without displacing anyone. While USC did not disclose how much money it’s making from the 16 new seats, it did say through a statement that the additions have “generated a significant amount of revenue for both basketball programs.”

What’s next?

South Carolina is not the first school or professional team to move its home radio crews, and it won’t be the last.

The trend of schools moving radio and other media members away from the court in favor of premium seats goes back at least 10 years. Examples include Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum, where men’s basketball media sit midcourt in the upper bowl. At the SEC men’s tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and the radio sections at recent women’s basketball Final Four games, radio crews are in a similar position to Colonial Life Arena.

Mallette estimated that at least half of the SEC joined USC in moving its home radio crews away from the court. Programs that have not moved home radio seats include Florida, Auburn and Kentucky.

USC’s new spot was chosen, Mallette said, because it already had power and internet connections already, and that South Carolina provided the radio crews with a hookup to in-game sound effects, more comfortable chairs that sit higher and a larger video monitor to view the TV broadcast.

The radio crews also have a little more space in their new seats, but Scott and Muller both bring their own lamps to the game without the luxury of the court’s bright lights hanging over them. USC women’s basketball coaches phone in and do interviews with Muller , while Lamont Paris goes up in the stands to meet Scott and Manning after games.

While Goren understands the reasoning behind the choice, he disagrees about the value of additional premium seats relative to what a courtside broadcast can bring.

“The question is, the whole model, which has changed considerably in the last five years, is the whole thing sustainable?” Goren said. “And I’ve had a lot of very smart people, smart business people, tell me that it’s not.”

Ultimately, the decision has been made, and the new seats have been sold. If the radio crews were to be moved to a better vantage point in future seasons, it likely won’t be a return to courtside.

Time will tell if the extra dollars are worth any added inconveniences for radio broadcasters across the SEC or their listeners.

“I just hope everyone uses common sense,” Goren said. “And my common sense is you want to put your people in the best position to see the clearest picture so they can relate exactly what is happening on the court or on the table.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 7:53 AM.