Enough with the talk about how the NBA has become a star-driven league. Let’s just call it what it really is: home of the biggest bandwagon fans in all of sports.
For the love of LeBron, the Cleveland Cavaliers, sitting fifth in their conference with a mediocre record just above .500, are leading the league in the highest road game average attendance this season. The Miami Heat led this category the past four seasons during King James’ reign there.
At its worst during the LeBron-less years, the Cavs’ home, Quicken Loans Arena http://www.forbes.com/companies/quicken-loans/, was only 78% full. This season it is filled to capacity. Cavs merchandise spiked from totally below-the-radar in the prior four seasons, to top-selling in the NBA so far this season.
Kudos to James for having such an impact. It is easy to see why he is the NBA’s Highest Paid Player http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2015/01/21/lebron-durant-lead-the-nbas-highest-paid-players-2015/. There is no begrudging him or denying his talent as the best in the league.
The NBA's Best Fans
Our ranking of the NBA's Best Fans is based on five criteria: hometown crowd reach, television ratings, arena attendance, merchandise sales and social media reach. Bandwagon, casual and die-hard fans are all given the same consideration.
#1 Miami Heat
In the last three years Heat fans have supported their team the best per our metrics, coming in, on average, with the top selling team merchandise, and the third best TV ratings, home attendance and largest social media base. Let it be known that not everyone jumped on the LeBron-train right away. Team merchandise ranked fourth at the end of the 2011/12 season and only last year moved to the top of the NBA.
#2 Oklahoma City Thunder
Reigning MVP Kevin Durant and All-Star Russell Westbrook, 4 division titles in 8 years, a trip to the 2012 NBA Finals, and a majoe sports team-starved market are enough to explain why Thunder fans come in a very close second-best in the league. Of impressive note, the team has more Facebook followers than the Oklahoma City and Seattle markets combined and has led the league in local TV ratings the past two seasons.
#3 San Antonio Spurs
According to market researchers Nielsen Scarborough, 69% of adults in San Antonio are Spurs fans, identified as such having watched, attended, and/or listened to the team’s games this past year -- the most of any team in the league. Thanks in part to boasting the most international players (9) for the 3rd consecutive season, their fans extend beyond their borders, evidenced by their social media accounts. The Spurs have 5.5 million Facebook followers, more than double their city's metro population.
#4 Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are the only big market team that cracks the top five in Nielsen's Top NBA Franchises By Fans. That's impressive considering the team shares a season and contends for an audience with the Chicago Blackhawks, winner of two Stanley Cups in the past five seasons. The team is one of the top five leaders in full-season ticket sales too, helping it consistently rank at the top of the league in attendance.
#5 Los Angeles Lakers
Based on the team's social media following, the Lakers are not just the most liked team in the NBA but in all of North American sports. Facebook fans amount to 22 million and Twitter followers 4.2 million. Five time champion, former MVP and 19-year team veteran Kobe Bryant remains a top draw among fans. He consistently boasts one of the top-selling jerseys in the league, both in the U.S. and internationally.
#6 Boston Celtics
Celtics legend Red Auerbach philosophy of "there's no substitution for winning" and backing it up with 16 titles in 29 years as coach and GM helped build a legion of fans that decades later still supports the team, even in defeat. Despite winning only one-third of their games this season and sitting just above the dismal Knicks and woeful Sixers in the Eastern Conference, Celtics merchandise remains among the top 10 most popular in the league.
#7 (tie) Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks have the longest active sellout streak in the NBA with 588 games (as of publish date), twice as many as the Miami Heat's 224. One key to loyalty? On average, ticket prices are below the league average. The team even lowered prices on some season tickets which resulted in more renewals last year than the season after their 2011 NBA Championship.
#7 (tie) Indiana Pacers
Season ticket sales are up 34% from last year, the second straight season management has been able to enjoy a better than 30% rise -- an increase fans can stomach easier when their team posts the Eastern Conference's top record. Local television ratings also soared with a league-leading 99% increase from the prior year. Games on FS Midwest averaged 4.19, the fourth highest in the league.
#9 Portland Trail Blazers
After Damian Lillard sunk a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left to beat the Houston Rockets 99-98 in the 2014 playoffs, Fanatics.com reported Trail Blazers merchandise spiked more than 230% across 35 different states. As Lilliard's clutch time takeovers have become routine into this season, he still holds on to the 11th most popular selling jersey in the league as of January 2015. Before using this to brandish Rip City fans as typical front-runners, consider this. Last season, the Blazers ranked 5th in the league in home attendance with a 54-28 regular season record. For the 2012/13 season the team ranked 4th in home attendance with a 33-49 record; the 2011/12 season, 2nd in home attendance with a 28-38 record. That's loyalty.
#10 Los Angeles Clippers
Once the supporting act in Los Angeles, the Clippers have outdrawn the Hollywood A-listers posing as Lakers fans at the Staples Center since the 2011/12 season. They are currently on a 153-game sellout streak (as of publish date), sixth best in the league. Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin rank among the top 15 best selling jerseys helping land the team in the top 10 in total merchandise in the league.
Shame on you though if you’re from Cleveland and you turned your back on the Cavs between tip-off of the 2010-11 NBA season and decision day July 2014 when James inked his contract to return home (for two years anyway…until the NBA’s new $2.5 billion a year TV deal kicks in, sending the salary cap soaring and giving the L-train options to leave the station).
And shame on you if you only showed up to see your hometown team when LeBron was in town. Or Kobe. Or Kevin Durrant. Or Chris Paul http://www.forbes.com/profile/chris-paul/.
Of course not every one of you is a bandwagon fan. Casual fans who say they appreciate good ball and just want to go out and see the league’s best play, or who collect MVP-winner jerseys and just root for a good game because they lack any allegiance to a city (and probably have a bunch of 5th place intramural trophies on display at home), make up a decent chunk of you.
The problem is, how do you distinguish between the two? It’s akin to deciphering between the taste of a tomato and a tahmato.
Care to argue if you are one of these people? Allow me to introduce you to your antithesis, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a Philadelphia 76ers season ticket holder for the past 5 years.
Lamont Hill, a 36-year old Philadelphia-born and raised author, journalist and Morehouse College professor with a Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania, paid $75,000 ahead of this season for his two floor seats next to the Sixers’ south basket. Without protest, he actually ponied up 8% more than what he paid last season, notable most for the team tying the NBA’s 26-game losing streak held also by none other than the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers.
For some perspective, the year after the Cavs’ skid, Cleveland natives bolted. The team went from 12th in attendance and 97.8% full at home, to 27th in attendance and 77.5% full. That’s mind-boggling to Dr. Hill who never considered dropping his season tickets.
“This is just the ugly part. It’s like any relationship. It needs work. But I keep coming home every day,” as he described why he is sticking bythe tanking Sixers. “I’m all in with the team’s slogan ‘Together We Build’.
“This is a lifelong and long-term investment. It’s like it used to be buying in Brooklyn. Some time this is going to be good. I am willing to pay now in order to be there.”
Then there is Rachel McRae, a 26-year old make-up artist and doctoral student studying business administration who also happens to be a Sixers season ticket holder. She paid a $15 per ticket increase to renew her 2 seats in the Risers this, her second season. For comparison, there are plenty of seats available to Sixers home games on Stub Hub for under $10.
“I was born into a family of Sixers fans during the Allen Iverson era” the South Jersey native said. “That love of the game and the team stays with you.”
What do you have to say for yourself now, Front-Runner?
Don’t worry. You are still a fan, and you are good for something — business. Just ask these billionaire NBA team owners http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2015/01/21/the-nbas-billionaire-owners-in-2015/.
In fact, because it is hard to find many more gluttons for punishment like Dr. Hill and McRae, and because we are team-oriented (something you should try), you may still rank among our list of The NBA’s Best Fans.
As we did for the best NFL fans http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2014/08/20/the-nfls-best-fans-2/ and best NHL fans http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2014/11/25/the-nhls-best-fans/, we used five measurable fan engagement criteria to find the NBA’s best: hometown crowd reach (defined by market researchers Nielsen Scarborough as a percentage of the local population that watched, attended, and/or listened to a game in the last year), 3 years worth of television ratings, 3 years of arena attendance based on capacity reached, 3 years worth of merchandise sales, and social media reach (a combination of Facebook likes and Twitter followers). We made no differentiation among teams who reported attendance figures beyond capacity — every team over it was given the same consideration as if they reported 100%. To account for trends in behavior (i.e. reward the most loyal), changes in them and television ratings were also considered. Social media reach was calculated as a percentage of the local population. (To account for the dual team markets, we divided New York and Los Angeles’ population by two.) Within each metric, all 30 teams were scored and the sum or their scores determined their final ranking.
The Miami Heat fans took the top spot to little surprise and a tad bit of disgust. But then we looked pre-LeBron and realized there was no need to jump on the Heat-hater bandwagon. Fact is the team has ranked in the top 5 in the league in attendance and/or filled their arena to capacity since the 2004-05 season. Thanks to Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade in addition to LeBron’s 4-year train stop, the team has had a player among those with the best selling jersey and/or the team’s merchandize has ranked among the league’s best-selling. The team ranks 3rd in the league in terms of its social media sheer volume of fans and its following as a percent of its population, a number that shows its reach extends beyond Dade County. To boot, LeBron’s exit did not open the floodgates for a mass exodus of fans. The Heat are still playing to a full capacity crowd and its merchandise is still a top seller.
Top 10 Best NBA Fans:
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlh45ekfm/the-nbas-best-fans/
1. Miami Heat
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
3. San Antonio Spurs
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Los Angeles Lakers
6. Boston Celtics
7. (tie) Dallas Mavericks
7. (tie) Indiana Pacers
9. Portland Trail Blazers
10. Los Angeles Clippers
Full article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2015/01/21/the-nbas-best-fans/
Note:
Miami is the happiest place to work and now Miami Heat Tops Forbes 2015 List Of The NBA's Best Fans. Should we expect another Tweeter from Micky Arison?
