The NBA has a ratings problem

[Archie Moses]

I remember when we talked about this last year some shook it off, but the NBAs rating problem has continued to start this season off in a big way. It’s why the NBAs looking at the tournaments and remedies to get them back up, and engage more interest from fans.

The NBA is talked about 10X more than any other league by sports media. They cover all the negatives of NFL ratings but not a peep now that the NBAs ratings are plummeting. The NFLs ratings have seen a resurgence and are up.

Several things contribute to it, but I’ll say as a pretty big NBA fan these are the things that annoy me about the league.

The drama got old fast. The media likes to think it’s so fun to have all these rumors, tampering, etc. going on in the league. It’s really not. Not for a large majority of your fanbases. All 25 of your teams fanbases are doing is waiting for the day they lose there star. That creates a feeling of “what’s the point” to everyone outside the luxury markets in your league. It makes 25 of your 30 teams feel like hopeless development spots that are just a pit stop along the way.

The secret to a robust league isn’t difficult. Make all your fanbases/teams have a feeling that they can actually compete for and get to the mountaintop at some point, and aren’t just pit stops that are going to lose their guys over and over with no real chance to get there.

The NBA has done a bad job of only engaging/propping up a very small portion of its league.

Whats funny is the silence on it after the NFL got beat up so badly because these rating drops are pretty significant and an issue.

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/th...ings-are-off-to-such-a-bad-start-01dszs3mxmzn

The Warriors can be blamed for the rating decline imo.

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

As others have also stated, I don't watch the NBA unless it's the Jazz, until the playoffs start.

It seems to me like it's a lot of little things contributing. Some internal, some external. Cord cutting is definitely part of it. Competition from other types of entertainment. There is not much the NBA can do about these external factors.

Some internal factors that I think the NBA will need to address at some point:

1- Poor officiating (inconsistent)
2- Competitive Balance (tanking)
3- Regular season has no significance (why watch a game in November that means so little?)

I would like to see changes to the CBA. I think there should be no maximum on individual player salaries. If someone wants to spend 90% of their cap on one player, let them do it. This would help limit stars joining together on one team.

 

[somebody]

Some dumb ideas, because nobody asked:

• Teams only have 3 full-time players
  
• All other players are randomly assigned to teams at the start of each season
  
• Non full-time players paid by the wins
• The entire season is the playoff tournament
• Teams recruit 1 player of their choice from each team they eliminate
• Teams must play a random fan for 5 min a game
• Replace jump balls with trivia questions
  
• Maze courts

And I look forward to all of you watching my basketball league Saturday nights at 11pm/Central on the Game Show Network™

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

This is kind of like whe the music industry went from physical to digital sales. Everyone is probably going to lose money at first, but theres probably a way to monetize. Im guessing the owners will try and manipulate that to their advantage to get a bigger split of the BRI.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

The Warriors can be blamed for the rating decline imo.

Lol. If anything they helped keep it afloat. The idea that casual fans dont like dominance is absurd. Every sport is at peak popularity when a GOAT is dominating.

People just love to bitch about **** that makes them feel insecure. Oneye is a perfect example. Hes the same dude who is obsessed over Donovan and New York.

 

[Archie Moses]

Lol. If anything they helped keep it afloat. The idea that casual fans dont like dominance is absurd. Every sport is at peak popularity when a GOAT is dominating.

People just love to bitch about **** that makes them feel insecure. Oneye is a perfect example. Hes the same dude who is obsessed over Donovan and New York.

Bro, do you talk to anyone that's older than 25? Most casual fans I know say they won't watch the NBA because it's too predictable during the Warrior's dynasty.

 

[SCS]

NBA fans think the season is too long. They hate that load management can ruin their experience at a game. The NBA's solution: A midseason tournament! More meaningless games leading to more load management! Yay!!!

 

[SCS]

Some dumb ideas, because nobody asked:

• Teams only have 3 full-time players
  
• All other players are randomly assigned to teams at the start of each season
  
• Non full-time players paid by the wins
• The entire season is the playoff tournament
• Teams recruit 1 player of their choice from each team they eliminate
• Teams must play a random fan for 5 min a game
• Replace jump balls with trivia questions
  
• Maze courts

And I look forward to all of you watching my basketball league Saturday nights at 11pm/Central on the Game Show Network™

Adam Silver would no doubt love some of these

 

[oneye]

Lol. If anything they helped keep it afloat. The idea that casual fans dont like dominance is absurd. Every sport is at peak popularity when a GOAT is dominating.

People just love to bitch about **** that makes them feel insecure. Oneye is a perfect example. Hes the same dude who is obsessed over Donovan and New York.

I'm correct there. And I agree the Warriors actually helped, but last year it was obvious the shine of the Warriors was wearing off and people were over the season being over before it started, despite Toronto winning because of a huge injury. Ratings were down last years regular season and the playoffs as well, so people were getting tired of the Warriors. The ratings have further suffered this season as the downward trend continues.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Bro, do you talk to anyone that's older than 25? Most casual fans I know say they won't watch the NBA because it's too predictable during the Warrior's dynasty.

And they would find some **** to say if it wasnt that way as an excuse not to watch. Because they are casuals. Most casual fans will only watch if the moment is important enough to the at large conversation of popular culture (or w/e, there is probably a better phrase for that). When the NBA's own media people regularly downplay the regular season to the point that it's now a commonly held opinion of "lol who cares only ringsss matter", that's going to bleed over into casuals whose opinion is largely influenced by the masses.

 

[Archie Moses]

And they would find some **** to say if it wasnt that way as an excuse not to watch. Because they are casuals. Most casual fans will only watch if the moment is important enough to the at large conversation of popular culture (or w/e, there is probably a better phrase for that). When the NBA's own media people regularly downplay the regular season to the point that it's now a commonly held opinion of "lol who cares only ringsss matter", that's going to bleed over into casuals whose opinion is largely influenced by the masses.

A simple Google search backs my thinking.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

A simple Google search backs my thinking.

google search of what?

This is just simple human behavior. Humans love to bitch and moan about things. People love to romanticize the past. There's nothing the NBA can do to make people not act like complete blowhards on these kinds of things. There will always be people like oneye who cant stand that young, predominately black, athletes have the power to make their lives miserable just because they don't do what they want them to do in sports.

At the end of the day this is all about perception and the NBA is largely to blame for creating the perception that the regular season is meaningless.