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The Brooklyn Nets are leading the New York Knicks in local television viewership by 10% since James Harden made his debut, sources told Marc Berman of the New York Post (h/t NetsDaily).

The Nets are averaging 122,000 viewers on the YES Network as compared to 111,000 for the Knicks on the MSG Network over the last eight games.

The average viewership for the Knicks has dropped 13% since Harden's debut.

The Nets also announced that their viewership has increased 67% on YES since Harden's arrival

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I recall being told by Knicks fans, who swore ON GOD, that no one in this area would watch the Nets over the Knicks. Now look.

Well well well, the mood has changed hasn't it?

We’ve also been on the back page in nearly every game this season and we’re Top 10 (pre-Harden trade) in merchandise sales. Knicks players aren’t even in the Top 15.

In 10 years the Knicks will become irrelevant in NYC. I know its impossible for some to believe but I think the Nets will get a Championship or 2 out of this core.

Once Scary Hours leaves we will get other big names players to sign. NYC has been off the market to NBA players for so long. Now that there is a legitimate franchise players will flood to be here.

Nobody is going to want to stick with the Knicks when theres a winning franchise in town.

I think its absurd to think the knicks are going away. their fans are as die hard as it guys. stuck with them for 30 years of sucking. that wont change cause the nets got good.

yeah the bandwagon front runner fake fans will come over. some KD/Harden fans will take more interest. but it will be closer to 20+ year for us to potentially take over. kids who are 8-10 years old now, that next generation of fans. We will continue to grow in popularity, but the knicks have en enormous base of loyal fans who love to hate them as much as root for them.

being a jets fan i can tell you the giants can win the next 20 superbowls with the jets never winning again and id never even consider switching. evenw ith the giants smashing the patriots twice

The diehards won't leave, but the most important groups long term are the Gen Z kids growing up now and the younger millennials who have known the Knicks to be nothing but losers for as long as they have been alive. They are flocking to the Nets right now.

MrDollarBills wrote:
The diehards won't leave, but the most important groups long term are the Gen Z kids growing up now and the younger millennials who have known the Knicks to be nothing but losers for as long as they have been alive. They are flocking to the Nets right now.

Also Brooklyn is not the typical outer borough it was when I was growing up. It's been so gentrified with hipsters that it's practically an extension of Manhattan. In fact most young people who are just getting started in their careers can't afford to live in Manhattan, so they live in Brooklyn, only a stones throw away from NYC by train.

Even if you go as far back as the show "Friends" you can see the gentrification of yuppies in Brooklyn.

I'm old enough to remember when Manhattanites looked down on Brooklyn as part of the "Bridge & Tunnel" crowd. And I know that for sure because I was born and raised in Manhattan, but not the snobbish sections.

The biggest issue for the Nets perception has been traditional local media. Dolan, a media guy, always was in good with the local media. He knows how to work his relationships with the locals, but if the big 3 stays together for a few years, they have to continue to give the Nets a ton of coverage.

No disrespect but I don’t care about winning local TV ratings. If we win titles, the rest will take care of itself. If we don’t win, especially with this group, we’ll just be NYC’s version of the Clippers. We need to win PERIOD.

NyCeEvO wrote:No disrespect but I don’t care about winning local TV ratings. If we win titles, the rest will take care of itself. If we don’t win, especially with this group, we’ll just be NYC’s version of the Clippers. We need to win PERIOD.

Even Clippers became attractive to star players due to their location. Now they'll be getting their new arena soon. DuH Nix on the other hand still will be duh nix since Dolan made it clear what's his political views and a lot of players not exited about it. They also will be facing rent and maybe relocation issues.
We won't be Clippers but as few mentioned it'll take time to grow legit fan base that'll be diehard.