03-31-2021, 03:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2021, 03:53 PM by HanspardShowerVoice.)
IMHO, this is hitting crisis level emergency for the NBA. I know we're not ever supposed to say anything negative about "player empowerment", and fans just compulsively following player movement transactions is great for social media and podcast traffic, but perhaps New York and LA markets stockpiling mercenary superstars is actually really, really, really horrible for the future of the league as an on court product? The small and mid market teams are really going to have to stand up for themselves in the next CBA. This league is going to be nothing more than Twitter and Podcast fodder if the other teams in the league are nothing more than feeder systems for the LA and NY markets.
Quote:Quote:For starters, a game between the Lakers and Pelicans on TNT last week averaged a measly 920,000 viewers, down a whopping 35% from a Rockets-Bucks matchup on a comparable night in 2019. That Lakers-Pelicans game was also the least-watched Lakers game on ABC, ESPN or TNT since LeBron James signed on in 2018.
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In other recent NBA action, ESPN drew a 0.7 rating (-26%) and 1.15 million viewers (-17%) for Clippers-Mavericks and a 0.6 (-41%) and 931,000 (-37%) for Bucks-Sixers last Wednesday,” Lewis wrote. “TNT the previous night had a 0.6 and 1.03 million for Jazz-Celtics and a 0.6 and 983,000 for Pelicans-Blazers. Preceding the aforementioned Lakers-Warriors game on March 15, ESPN drew a 0.7 (-35%) and 1.13 million (-36%) for Knicks-Nets. Finally, Clippers-Pelicans had a 0.6 (-34%) and 1.01 million (-24%) on ESPN March 14. All comparisons are to 2019.”
Overall, NBA playoff ratings were down 27% last season when compared to 2019, and down 40% compared to the year before that, as OutKick’s Bobby Burack wrote.
The first round of the playoffs were an extension of the declining ratings prior to the NBA hiatus in March.
According to a report from Sports Business Daily in February, national television viewership for regular season games fell 12 percent compared to 2018-19. Again, those were the league’s pre-hiatus numbers.
“The NBA has growing concern. This goes beyond TV ratings,” an industry insider told SI.com last year. “The league does remain a popular brand overseas. But it has hit hard times among sports fans here (in the United States).”
https://www.outkick.com/nba-ratings-cont...-nosedive/