The new CBAs stifling of ratings

[RRyder823]

This is a long post

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322 Words = Long

For a message board post...... Yes.

Come on you can do better then that

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[Lenneth]

Other than game 1 of the Final, the TV ratings have been pretty good.

https://www.nba.com/news/2025-playoffs-viewership-up-12-percent-from-last-year-on-espn-platforms

As for the Final, the TV rating was expected, because both SGA and Hali are up-and-coming 26 and 25 years old stars, and they need time to be household names.

[HotelVitale]

On another note, when are we going to stop talking about tv ratings? Who cares? It's a dying medium that will suffer perma-death once a profitable streaming model wins out. I've never owned a tv, so the only time I'm contributing to tv ratings is when I got to a sports bar or visit my hometown (where I watch tv in my parents basement, lol). I'm not an atypical audience member. Most people watch legal and illegal streams. Broadcast tv has died, and sports is the last bastion of it. Why do we think this is a useful metric for the long term growth of the game?

Very few people are concerned about the actual economics or marketing theory here, it's just become another magnet for concern trolling. Pretext for people to say what's wrong with the NBA and why it sucks now, with everything from overhyping Lebron to the in-season tournament to the usual blah about wuss-ifying the game and 3 pt shooting. That's really what at least 80% of the posts and conversations are here when the topic comes up.

I know I just shouldn't engage but it's such a strange phenomenon. And yeah I've also never owned a TV that I was paying for cable on (had some for movies and video games pre-streaming), and I'm in my 40s.

[NZB2323]

Did we have good ratings in 2017? This new CBA is a response to that.

This season has been way better than 2017.

[durden_tyler]

Only casuals care about ratings.


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[Raps in 4]

The NFL has no problems with parity and promoting small markets. You don't hear reporters talking daily about how great it would be if Mahomes played in LA, NYC, or Miami. The three best QBs in the league play in **** Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore and you never hear a peep about how they need to force their way to bigger markets asap.

Meanwhile, ESPN has spent every moment of the last decade talking about how good Giannis would look in a Lakers uniform.

[jkvonny]

The NFL has no problems with parity and promoting small markets. You don't hear reporters talking daily about how great it would be if Mahomes played in LA, NYC, or Miami. The three best QBs in the league play in **** Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore and you never hear a peep about how they need to force their way to bigger markets asap.

Meanwhile, ESPN has spent every moment of the last decade talking about how good Giannis would look in a Lakers uniform.

Yep!

This, too lol

[Lalouie]

are the main reasons why people like parity are the,,,,,

close games, unexpected upsets, more evenly matched teams

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Many of us view parity as a good thing, but it is unquestionably bad for ratings.

"unquestionably" it's a very strong word to use,
The League is trying to change its marketing strategy, believing it will create more value in the long term.
Moreover, it's not because of the 2nd Apron that those teams are in the finals.
Past champions either got too old, got run over by injuries, or both.
It seems people are now blaming the 2nd Apron even when it's been raining too much.

[JDR720]

The NFL has no problems with parity and promoting small markets. You don't hear reporters talking daily about how great it would be if Mahomes played in LA, NYC, or Miami. The three best QBs in the league play in **** Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore and you never hear a peep about how they need to force their way to bigger markets asap.

Meanwhile, ESPN has spent every moment of the last decade talking about how good Giannis would look in a Lakers uniform.

The Ravens and Bills have had several playoff failures too. Neither has even been to a Superbowl. If Allen/Jackson were NBA stars, there would be non-stop discussion of them going to the Lakers.

[JDR720]

One reason for low Finals ratings are the media spent basically the whole playoffs talking down on both Indy and OKC.

OKC were going to lose to the Lakers, they're a regular season team, they're too young etc.

Indy were never the favorites in their series, they had topics about whether Hali was even a star or not before Game 1.

If the marketing of these teams wasn't basically "Are these teams actually even good" then the ratings would be higher. You can't trash a product/team/players etc. and then expect fans to tune in to watch them.

[pipfan]

I like this current era. I really think my Bulls could make a leap, get lucky and get to the conference Finals by adding Lauri M (a possible 50 win team).

I have thought of they need to add a salary Amnesty, but make it one/five years, and it's tradable

[The Master]

Not saying that to the OP, but the whole ratings discourse kinda shows who's a real fan, and who's a casual/hater.

Because why do you care about ratings?

Explanation is easy and has already been mentioned: the NBA media conglomerate isn't suitable to promote small market teams/non-American stars, as for decades their marketing strategy was based on big markets, American stars, and silly discourses. So the NBA is in amazing place right now due to parity and globalization, but it can't do anything with that with Stephen As and TNTs etc running a narrative.

The whole terrorist jokes discourse on Twitter is much better promo for the finals than anything these mainstream media have done. Not saying ESPN should joke about the Taliban and 9/11, but it's not that hard to find some angle you can use, lol.

[BigDan245]

I think what people are not understanding is just how many good players are in the league now. Back 10-15 years ago, the depth of the league was poor. Guys couldn't shoot like they can now. It was a radical move by Coach Spo to bench Joel Anthony and have Bosh play the 5.

It was a lot harder to manufacture points and when you had a guy like LeBron, it was so hard for another team to beat him.

Now guys who are 7 foot 4 are putting the ball on the floor and playmaking and shooting 3s. The variance has increased dramatically and now teams who have a top heavy team, need their guys to be superhuman to overcome the waves of bench players who can score and defend.

[Wingy]

The second apron has only been in effect for two seasons. We've had five new champions in a row even before it came into effect (so why are you blaming the CBA for parity?). Market the new players and stop focusing on the fogies. OKC should have been playing on Christmas Day and had more National TV games during the season. Same with the Pacers. Why does Orlando get no national TV games? If the Lakers are as popular as people believe, you don't need to give them more national games. People will get League Pass just to see them.

Criminal for them to not have OKC on the Xmas day slate. It was obvious they would be one of the absolute best teams heading into the season. I can understand Indy being a miss.

Easy solution, NBA.

Have your rising, lesser known teams play the markets you annoyingly prop up. Feature OKC hosting LA. Indy at NY. SA vs GSW.

I know the league wants Steph vs Lebron 83, and that may draw a mini one-off spike, but it’s bad for the long run. Use the recognition of older stars to build the current and up and coming generation.

[robbie84]

I'd argue that Youtube and the highlight era is what's killed NBA ratings more than anything.

[Slim Tubby]

The NFL has no problems with parity and promoting small markets. You don't hear reporters talking daily about how great it would be if Mahomes played in LA, NYC, or Miami. The three best QBs in the league play in **** Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore and you never hear a peep about how they need to force their way to bigger markets asap.

Meanwhile, ESPN has spent every moment of the last decade talking about how good Giannis would look in a Lakers uniform.

Great post, sir!

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[cupcakesnake]

On another note, when are we going to stop talking about tv ratings? Who cares? It's a dying medium that will suffer perma-death once a profitable streaming model wins out. I've never owned a tv, so the only time I'm contributing to tv ratings is when I got to a sports bar or visit my hometown (where I watch tv in my parents basement, lol). I'm not an atypical audience member. Most people watch legal and illegal streams. Broadcast tv has died, and sports is the last bastion of it. Why do we think this is a useful metric for the long term growth of the game?

Very few people are concerned about the actual economics or marketing theory here, it's just become another magnet for concern trolling. Pretext for people to say what's wrong with the NBA and why it sucks now, with everything from overhyping Lebron to the in-season tournament to the usual blah about wuss-ifying the game and 3 pt shooting. That's really what at least 80% of the posts and conversations are here when the topic comes up.

I know I just shouldn't engage but it's such a strange phenomenon. And yeah I've also never owned a TV that I was paying for cable on (had some for movies and video games pre-streaming), and I'm in my 40s.

"Concern trolling" is such a good term. I've never heard that one before.

I have stuff I like to complain about. Politics, socioeconomics, humans being cruel, and annoying. NBA basketball is something I follow purely for fun. It seems downright perverted to me that there are fans who take part in the NBA only through complaining and get to the point where they're "concern trolling" for... fun? I'm not sure what inner need is being expressed through this. Are we all so thoroughly dissatisfied with life and the world that griping is the only way people know how think and communicate?

[cupcakesnake]

The NFL has no problems with parity and promoting small markets. You don't hear reporters talking daily about how great it would be if Mahomes played in LA, NYC, or Miami. The three best QBs in the league play in **** Kansas City, Buffalo, and Baltimore and you never hear a peep about how they need to force their way to bigger markets asap.

Meanwhile, ESPN has spent every moment of the last decade talking about how good Giannis would look in a Lakers uniform.

It's funny how many complaints about the NBA don't hold up to any scrutiny when you compare/contrast with other leagues.

The NFL makes every matchup a can't miss event. The NBA can't quite do that and scale it up to 82 games, but there are still things to learn. Super rabid fan bases of every market keeps interest high no matter what. Less glamorous markets going on playoff runs increases interest. I live in Toronto, but I'm from Nova Scotia, and the Raptors playoff runs created tons and tons of new fans across the entire country. Local markets can drive massive interest. The interest dies down somewhat when the playoff runs end, but you still have people that had 0 interest who now have some interest. Different markets having their time as a deep playoff team creates more fans.

We're still living in MJ's shadow, as the NBA tries to recapture the cultural zeitgeist that was produced by interest in Michael Jordan. Shaq, Kobe, Lebron, and Curry all captured some interest, but being so dependant on single star personalities is pretty hit and miss (mostly miss). The actual games, the quality of the sport, and the storylines produced every year has to be the foundation of the NBA as a growing entertainment product.

[Patches Perry]

Not saying that to the OP, but the whole ratings discourse kinda shows who's a real fan, and who's a casual/hater.

Because why do you care about ratings?

This is a common theme I'm seeing, and the answer is probably the same as why you care to respond to a post about ratings. It's just something people are talking about.