We are thrilled to announce that the American Basketball Association (ABA) has chosen Minotaur Media to call their 25th Anniversary Championship Weekend games April 10-12 in Atlanta.
The voice you’ll hear on the ABA’s pay-per-view live coverage of the weekend will be Eric’s.
“This is an amazing opportunity for Minotaur,” said Eric Ivie, owner of Minotaur Media, LLC. “For the ABA to select me to do their playoffs graphics and then for me to call the championship games in their 25th Anniversary season is an incredible honor. I sincerely hope that fans from all four teams enjoy my calls. I know the stakes are high, but we all want to have fun while we’re watching, too. That’s my goal for Championship Weekend.”
The first semifinal features the Austin Bats (22-1) vs. the Silicon Valley Panthers (23-0) on Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. PT.
The second semifinal pits the Nashville Aces (23-0) against the Buffalo eXtreme (23-0) on Friday, April 10 at about 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT or about 30 minutes after the first semifinal has ended.
Eric will then call the ABA Championship Game between the two semifinal winners on Sunday, April 12 at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. PT.
The four teams remaining in the tournament are the #1, #2, #3, and #5 teams in the ABA’s final Power Rankings of the regular season, and they have a combined record of 91-1.
The ABA isn’t new for Eric. He attended the Indiana Lyons’ first-ever game in their franchise history in 2018 and has been hooked on ABA basketball ever since.
He was the Communications Director for the Indiana Lyons out of Danville, Indiana from 2019-24 and called their games during that span. He was in St. Louis when the Lyons won the ABA Championship in 2023.
Eric started in the 2019-20 season with nothing but a cell phone, but his excited outbursts on otherwise uncalled Facebook Live feeds captured the attention of Lyons fans who then asked for more.
That eventually grew into a small business now known as Minotaur Media, LLC, which Eric owns and runs with help from his two daughters, Natalie and Gabby, as their college schedules allow.
“Minotaur’s mission is to promote minor leagues, their teams, and their athletes, so to be able to call the three most important games in the ABA in their Silver Anniversary season is absolutely amazing,” said Ivie.
Eric is known for his exuberant calls and his absurd sense of humor during broadcasts, as well as his style of calling games in a way that he thinks a fan would want to hear, rather than what people would hear on major networks. He makes it a point to call a balanced game, no matter who hires him, so that fans from both teams can enjoy the broadcast.
Eric is also known for his deep appreciation of good sportsmanship and will often call it out as he sees it. He never swears (during broadcasts, anyway) so that children can watch the broadcasts, too, and so that the next generation of fans is born.
In the 2025-26 season, he called games for the Indiana Legends out of New Castle, Indiana. He’ll be back to call Legends’ games in 2026-27.
“Legends’ owner Holli Poe, GM Rebecca Day and head coach Adam Spears have been nothing but incredible and supportive,” said Ivie. “The entire Indiana Legends organization is a class act full of immensely talented and dedicated athletes, coaches, and volunteers. They’ll be in an ABA Championship Weekend soon, and I hope I’m able to call that event.”
While all previous Minotaur Media games have been on YouTube, the Championship Weekend games will be on PPV through the ABA.
The PPV is about $23 after fees for the entire weekend and can be purchased here.
