​In a refreshing twist, the Utah Jazz are already scheduled to be featured in as many as six nationally televised contests in 2026-27. They’ll be featured twice in 2026 against the LA Clippers in November and the Golden State Warriors in January. Then four times in 2027 against Denver, Houston (twice), and a rookie-class clash against AJ Dybantsa and the Washington Wizards.That’s triple the amount of last season’s total, which planted the Jazz in only two nationally broadcast games. It isn’t Lakers, Celtics, or Knicks levels of visibility — it would take an exceptional year out of Will Hardy’s bunch to push a small-market franchise like Utah to that plane — but it’s a step in the right direction.It would be easy to blame Utah’s relatively low viewership on its market size. That’s certainly the approach I like to take when free agency draws out a mediocre yield. But the real reason you haven’t seen Jazz basketball on any sports bar television outside of the Beehive State is much more straightforward; the quality of hoops has been low in Utah.Let’s be honest with ourselves: the Jazz haven’t exactly been appointment viewing since slamming the self-destruct button on their All-Star tandem of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. With little star power, the Jazz won few games. This was by design — the less competitive the roster, the lower their chance of winning games becomes, and therefore, the chances of climbing in the draft order are maximized.In simpler terms, tanking basketball teams are boring viewing for the general, non-sicko public.As the Jazz cared very little about their record, the basketball world cared little to watch the Jazz in turn. Things will be different this season thanks to some key changes in the offseason.The Utah Jazz have leveled upDarryn Peterson’s arrival means everything for the Utah Jazz this season.He’s the reason they have chased lottery balls rather than the NBA Play-In over the last three seasons. A player with the star power of Peterson is a player who holds the potential to be the best player on any given basketball court.Players like that win championships, and they’re players the Jazz struggle to obtain outside of the draft, historically.Some crafty maneuvering of the injured reserve and minutes restrictions got Utah in some hot water with the NBA financially, but they’ve withheld their best players from pushing for needless victories in the pursuit of Peterson.Peterson, if as good as advertised, could make the Jazz one of the most exciting young teams in the sport this season. It’s no wonder why Utah is going to see so many more national TV spots in 2026-27 — they’re a different beast entirely.