Is the NBA trending to become America's favorite sport?

[Bertrob]

I don't get why the NBA isnt pushing to increase its popularity in Korea. China is the big dog in Asia to market your brand in, but South Korea is up there nowadays. Look at Hollywood movies, some of them open to box offices in Korea that rival China.

[omaro34]

Nope, but NBA players will continue being the highest paid and most notable athletes coming out of North America.

Only because Football players wear helmets.

[Stillwater]

I don't get why the NBA isnt pushing to increase its popularity in Korea. China is the big dog in Asia to market your brand in, but South Korea is up there nowadays. Look at Hollywood movies, some of them open to box offices in Korea that rival China.

Maybe it's the threat of a Nuclear Genocide

[Bertrob]

Maybe it's the threat of a Nuclear Genocide

If the NBA decision makers had an elementary knowledge of the region I'd understand but I think they're employing some smarter people than to make decisions based on that.

Also the NBA running more ads and having camps doesn't put them at risk of nuclear genocide.

[Stillwater]

Maybe it's the threat of a Nuclear Genocide

If the NBA decision makers had an elementary knowledge of the region I'd understand but I think they're employing some smarter people than to make decisions based on that.

Also the NBA running more ads and having camps doesn't put them at risk of nuclear genocide.

It was a bad joke,sorry

[HeartBreakKid]

I don't get why the NBA isnt pushing to increase its popularity in Korea. China is the big dog in Asia to market your brand in, but South Korea is up there nowadays. Look at Hollywood movies, some of them open to box offices in Korea that rival China.

They only have so many resources. They need to develop strategies on how they can actually make a lot of money in Korea - it's not enough to merely get people in Korea to buy some jerseys.


For the most part, all of Eastern Asia is pretty much a hot bed for expansion. But the NBA has a lot on its plate, literally every continent right now has untapped potential for future NBA fans.




That is one problem the NBA doesn't have to deal with that the NFL does to an extent. The American market is so big that the NFL isn't sweating it, but the NFL really can't go anywhere else other than expanding to Canada. The NFL really loves playing games out in London, because they realize they're missing out on international exposure.

[Duke4life831]

Is it trending that way? Sure. NFL is seeing decade lows in ratings and attendance dropping while the NBA is setting attendance records and the playoffs viewership is going up and up. With that said are they making significant ground on the NFL in America? No. NFL still has such a huge gap over any other sport in America, so while I do think the NBA is seeing a nice little growth in fan base while the NFL is probably seeing their first small decline in a long time, it means the NBA is trending in the right direction but still a long ways away.

[joeyAdaMan]

football will be #1 in America until it stops existing as a sport....and that will NEVER change....i do think bball can be #2 long term though

[Soupman]

The NBA will NEVER surpass college football south of the Mason Dixon line. Unless you live here, you can't understand how ingrained it is in the culture. It rivals the soccer culture in Europe in terms of fanaticism.

Very true. College football is really ingrained.

Alabama vs Auburn
Ohio State vs Michigan
Florida vs Florida State
Oklahoma vs Texas
USC vs Texas
Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State

Almost soccer level fanaticism.

[Chinook]

Nah, if anything, I think it's trending away from that. I don't think 90s-style marketing will work the same for teams nowadays because you have too much social media. Like in the 90s KD would probably be considered very positively because no one would see his Twitter BS. Plus with League Pass and online news in general, it's easier to keep up with all teams and not have to buy into whatever narrative the league pushes.

This year in football has been pretty good so far (Ravens being 2-0 certainly helps). They are relaxing some of the previous rules for PI and roughing the passer. They've noticeably cut back on commercial breaks. The replay system is a lot more streamlined. Usually, the first couple of weeks of the season are tough on me, because I had to re-calibrate to the slow pace of an NFL broadcast. This year it's felt like a breeze. If the NFL keeps this up, they'll only grow their audience.

[bmurph128]

The NBA will NEVER surpass college football south of the Mason Dixon line. Unless you live here, you can't understand how ingrained it is in the culture. It rivals the soccer culture in Europe in terms of fanaticism.

Very true. College football is really ingrained.

Alabama vs Auburn
Ohio State vs Michigan
Florida vs Florida State
Oklahoma vs Texas
USC vs Texas
Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State

Almost soccer level fanaticism.

I was born and raised in Columbus...obviously a big Ohio State fan.

But I would watch Ohio State lose to Michigan every week if it meant the Rams were a playoff team in the NFL.

Football is ingrained in me, for sure - but there's far too much negative with college football for me to have it be anything but number two for me.

And most college football fans don't actually seem to know a whole lot about football - which makes sense, because Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Clemson, Penn State - we'll be lucky if there are a grand total of 5 competitive games that all these teams play in combined. No use in really getting into the game that much when you're watching your team win 56-10 week in and week out. Even when high profile schools play - OSU vs OU last year and this year; Alabama vs FL St this year - often times not competitive.

It's funny how few people talk about it. College football is FAR less competitive than the NBA - and typically the games that are competitive are average to below average schools playing each other.

When people say they prefer college football it cracks me up - no real logic to it as far as I can see, unless you actually attended the school you're rooting for.

[RRyder823]

Then why is Soccer more popular than Rugby? It is by far more violent than Soccer.

This conversation is about America. We like things that go boom

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Then why is mixed martial arts and boxing not more popular than basketball? Why is hockey less popular than baseball?

Well MMA hasn't been around all that long (and is also trending up) and boxing used to be HUGE untill health concerns and (arguably more importantly) every single fight was on PPV. PEDs also have held back both. We like big and fast in this country but the moment performance enhancers become prevalent to the point titles are stripped people check out

Strikes/lockouts every time there's a new CBA have irreparably damaged the NHL in this country. It took a home run barrage for MLB to recover and It's taken the NBA two decades to recover from a single lock out where half a season was lost. NHL has had what? 2 or 3 in recent memory? One of which an entire season was lost

FYI the amount of money Connor/Mayweather made should be noted

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[SupaManu]

Born and raised in san antonio, life long spurs fan watch every game every season, went to Texas A&M, life time cowboys fan, for and and my friends its A&M football>>>>>>>>>>>cowboys>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>spurs

Not only is the nba not close to the nfl but ncaa football is far more popular as well.

[SupaManu]

I would also say in some places in Texas and the south high school football is more popular than the NBA

[OrlChamps2030]

This conversation is about America. We like things that go boom

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Then why is mixed martial arts and boxing not more popular than basketball? Why is hockey less popular than baseball?

Well MMA hasn't been around all that long (and is also trending up) and boxing used to be HUGE untill health concerns and (arguably more importantly) every single fight was on PPV. PEDs also have held back both. We like big and fast in this country but the moment performance enhancers become prevalent to the point titles are stripped people check out

Strikes/lockouts every time there's a new CBA have irreparably damaged the NHL in this country. It took a home run barrage for MLB to recover and It's taken the NBA two decades to recover from a single lock out where half a season was lost. NHL has had what? 2 or 3 in recent memory? One of which an entire season was lost

FYI the amount of money Connor/Mayweather made should be noted

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Yea boxing used to be immensely popular in the 90s. Another thing to note about the drop in interest is when the black man and latinos really took over and the quality of heavyweights began to drop. I believe if an exciting boxer like Lomachenko or Anthony Joshua was a white American who could trash talk, it would be huge.


Look at the numbers Conor/Mayweather did.

RE: NBA becoming more popular than the NFL - I work in a large corporate office in the Southeast that is located in a city that is a top 50 in the nation population wise. Ballpark numbers, but I'd say around 15%-20% of the office follows the NBA (probably less to be honest). I'd say around 75% of the office follows NFL/CFB (possibly more). Football has become a part of American culture, it will be really difficult for the NBA to surpass.

[jokeboy86]

Yea boxing used to be immensely popular in the 90s. Another thing to note about the drop in interest is when the black man and latinos really took over and the quality of heavyweights began to drop. I believe if an exciting boxer like Lomachenko or Anthony Joshua was a white American who could trash talk, it would be huge.

I think thats a little false only because there really hasnt been a big white American fighter since Marciano and yet boxing was still huge up till the late 90s when the majority of the fighter were African Americans. The most popular fighter of the past 30 years was a 5'10 heavyweight fighter who was dominating during a weak era. The problem boxing faces is the same reason soccer will never be a top 3 sport here and that's when it comes to sports the casual American sports fan tends to be xenophobic. If the best athletes in a sport arent from here or speak english then there's little to no interest. Manny Pacquiao was an outlier in boxing because if you notice the GGG vs Canelo fight didnt get anywhere near the interest of that "exhibition" that took place 3 weeks before. Its the same thing in women's tennis, MMA, and Men's soccer. The only reason we care about the women's soccer team is cause they dominate.

[lakerhater]

I'm not trying to be morbid but the only way the NBA will surpass the NFL is if we see a death on the field in an NFL game. That or a paralysis of a star. I think at that point, folks will realize how dangerous football is.

Those things have happened in both basketball and football in the past and the games have gone on.

[monopoman]

I'm not trying to be morbid but the only way the NBA will surpass the NFL is if we see a death on the field in an NFL game. That or a paralysis of a star. I think at that point, folks will realize how dangerous football is.

The evidence against the long term effects of concussions has already proved how dangerous football is. People don't care they are still watching the NFL and supporting the league.

I think part of the appeal of football is the big hits and physical play, **** plenty of sports are heavily focused on violence.

[azcatz11]

I'm not trying to be morbid but the only way the NBA will surpass the NFL is if we see a death on the field in an NFL game. That or a paralysis of a star. I think at that point, folks will realize how dangerous football is.

The evidence against the long term effects of concussions has already proved how dangerous football is. People don't care they are still watching the NFL and supporting the league.

I think part of the appeal of football is the big hits and physical play, **** plenty of sports are heavily focused on violence.

I should have been more clear in my OP. If a major NFL star is paralyzed or killed, live on TV, I believe the public outcry will be overwhelming.

God forbid. In today's media society, I couldn't even imagine.

[Slade3]

Y'all are underestimating the humans primal love of violence and gambling if you think Basketball will overtake Football. The biggest sporting events in america are football games and fights- when was the last time you went to a basketball party?

Hell the most impressive thing in basketball is when you dunk on someone and give them a mean mug...which is basketballs version of violence.

Then why is Soccer more popular than Rugby? It is by far more violent than Soccer.

This conversation is about America. We like things that go boom

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You said "humans" not Americans.