NBA TV Ratings Down

[Lipoli390]

I voted for Doris. Worst TV sports analyst I’ve ever heard. I don’t think she’s a huge contributor to declining ratings, but she’s terrible so I had to vote for her.

[WildWolf2813]

Pretty simple, if you use a streaming service the majority of the time it costs extra money to watch your local team and it’s not cheap. You can’t watch replays and your local team live on league pass if you live in that market.

It’s harder than ever to watch your local sports team legally. How high would the numbers be if we count streameast numbers were people are watching for free

Also there are no super teams. Like the Boston guys are amazing but their starts are boring. There is no rooting against the Lebron Miami teams or the super team warriors.

Then with the new apron rules it’s hard to make trades so speculation is an all time low.

I think you’re right, Kek. I’d add over-reliance on the three-point shot to your list. It’s made the game less interesting. Your last point is an important one. The new apron rules have really put a dent in a lot of the transactional intrigue that has driven interesting in the NBA.

the transactional intrigue has become more important than the regular season. That's not a good thing

To Kek's point, the super team might be good for casuals who want heroes and villains, but it also makes teams, like ours, completely irrelevant and not worth anyone's time. We're also not seeing the personalities of the past. Tatum's an example of someone who's so brand conscious he's devoid of any personality. The ones who DO have personality are either reckless, self-destructive or get hurt all the time.


Basketball is a sport where you don't have to watch it to pretend like you know what you're talking about and it shows. The biggest NBA related show is a show where the panel admits they don't watch many of the games. That impacts viewership. I can see how a clip account on twitter substitutes for actually watching the game for some.


The dumbest argument I read is that fans avoid the NBA because it's football season, as if somehow a football game on Sunday keeps me from watching a basketball game on Wednesday. Simply put, there's a time where the NBA is front and center and shines. Unfortunately, that time for so many isn't during the regular season. I think fans have to be honest with themselves and admit that there isn't room in their lives for the NBA the way it used to be and live off nostalgia more than anything.

[rapsuperstar31]

The Hornets and Bulls combining to miss 75 three pointers in one regulation game a few days ago isn't helping.

[WildWolf2813]

The Hornets and Bulls combining to miss 75 three pointers in one regulation game a few days ago isn't helping.

Well, we also just saw the most combined threes made in a game last night. That's variance for you.

[AbeVigodaLive]

it's way more nuanced than one singular person.

I'd argue if you're pinpointing any NBA decline on one person, let alone the people you named, you didn't love the game that much to begin with.

That's why I allowed you up to 3 picks. Doris is quite possibly the worst analyst ever, and the other 4 all use their position to try to exert political influence. Whether you like it or not, It is a HUGE reason the league is declining in popularity.

the NFL hasn't been affected by political stances at all... depending on which side you take, which is why I can't subscribe to the idea of political influence in of itself being a problem. If Rudy wanted to do that dance after a dunk or a block or whatever, the people who get mad at Popovich or LeBron or whoever, wouldn't say a word. When Rudy says "f*ck Fauci" on Twitter, nobody pinpoints that as some contribution to why we're turned off from sports. The ones who believe political influence is ruining the NBA aren't mad at politics. They're mad at the stance, and the ones who cry about that weren't really watching anyway.

Yep. LOL.

Any politics in sports stuff is only a problem for those who WANT to be aggrieved.

For example, I find the feigned Cailin Clark outrage highly amusing. "How dare she not agree with my opinion. I'm NOT her biggest fan anymore! I will NOT watch the WNBA anymore."

Cultural/political silliness aside... C'mon. We know there are so few WNBA fans anyway... and the people upset by her mostly meek, mushy, placating comments aren't actual Clark/WNBA fans if her nonthreatening comments drove them away. Transparent people are... well... transparent.

- Yes. Clark was targeted by some jealous players.
- Yes. Many in the WNBA (including owners) are tone deaf and silly.
- No. The loudest people on X or wherever screaming the loudest about Clark selling out were not actual fans of hers or the WNBA. They were fans of what they THOUGHT or ASSUMED she stood for or identified with. It has nothing to do with basketball.

[Phenom]

Is there anyone else out there that doesn't factor political or religious stances of individuals or entities in their assessment of them? I don't give it a nanosecond of my time, unless you include this post.

[Coolbreeze44]

Speaking for my generation which made up a huge percentage of the NBA fan base, wokeism, spoiled athletes, and load management has turned a lot of us away from the NBA. I can't speak for other generations but it isn't debatable with mine.

[WildWolf2813]

Is there anyone else out there that doesn't factor political or religious stances of individuals or entities in their assessment of them? I don't give it a nanosecond of my time, unless you include this post.

you can form an opinion of that person based off that if you choose, and with politics and social stuff, that can be a reflection of who that person really is. Back then you had to go out of your way to reveal these parts about your life. Now social media makes damn near everyone an open book. In the end, we don't know these people. Depending on these stances, you might not wanna know these people. For everyone's sanity, the best thing you can do is just focus on the game itself, unless you're still looking for a role model in life and I'd hope for many of us that we're past that point.

[DNatagal]

The combination of the rise of women's basketball, with the focus on more teamwork and less individualism/hero ball, and the poor NBA product during the regular season, are what I am pointing to right now.
And Doris Burke, yeah she is awful.

[Wolvesfan21]

Pretty simple, if you use a streaming service the majority of the time it costs extra money to watch your local team and it’s not cheap. You can’t watch replays and your local team live on league pass if you live in that market.

It’s harder than ever to watch your local sports team legally. How high would the numbers be if we count streameast numbers were people are watching for free

Also there are no super teams. Like the Boston guys are amazing but their starts are boring. There is no rooting against the Lebron Miami teams or the super team warriors.

Then with the new apron rules it’s hard to make trades so speculation is an all time low.

I agree the cost to watch is a major roadblock. Which then becomes a downward spiral the longer it is. Not enough NEW fans are made to replace the old ones and so on till you are hardly watched at all (same with MLB and NHL). I would argue PPV killed boxing also. It use to be the most watched sport. Then they tried to suck as much money as they could out of it and it nearly died.

The NFL is basically free with over the air signals. No paying for streaming AND a sports package. Anyone with a ten dollar antennae and cheap TV can watch it. Which is why the NFL continues to dominate the ratings. They are also easily creating new fans as well.

Then the product has been getting a little more stale. Lots of 3P's are being taken to the point it's like a 3P contest. I have argued that moving back the 3P line should have already happened and the court widened by 3 feet also.

I guess the question is, do you want to suck as much out of your current audience or do you want to try and expand your audience but make less per fan.