Trail Blazers axe TV broadcast crew

Portland Trail Blazers basketball will sound quite a bit different to those watching or listening at home in 2016-17.

The Blazers are moving on from the television broadcast tandem of Mike Barrett and Mike Rice, who have been in the booth together for the past 11 seasons, The Oregonian's Joe Freeman reports.

Radio color commentator Antonio Harvey is also being excised, leaving radio play-by-play man Brian Wheeler as the team's lone incumbent on-air voice going into next season.

Freeman points out that the timing of the change is no accident, as the Blazers are preparing to negotiate a new TV deal. Their current 10-year contract with Comcast SportsNet Northwest expires after the 2016-17 campaign.

The Blazers rebuffed an extension offer CSN submitted earlier this year, frustrated by the network's lack of distribution, specifically to satellite TV subscribers, Freeman reports. The team has subsequently been listening to offers from other potential broadcast partners.

As they look toward a new, uncertain broadcasting future, they evidently decided that Barrett and Rice had had their day.