WaitingforRuffcorn wrote:
The NBA is in some real trouble. The viewership collapsed. The political stuff is what it is, and it certainly alienated some people. But there seems to be more going on than that. A documentary about the Jordan views had more viewers than the current live Finals with someone who is supposed to be the greatest player of all time.
As an indoor game who knows when fans will be back too. LeBron is not going to leave the league in a good place.
I don’t think the league is in trouble at all. I understand ratings are down but I don’t think the league is in any kind of peril. The younger generations consume the content very differently. But the engagement is there via Twitter and fantasy etc. Obviously if Silver has his druthers ratings would be at an all time high and all demographics would be consuming the product across all media formats.
But I think if the NBA were a stock it would be a great buy and hold investment.
As far as the social justice stuff...clearly it has alienated a certain segment of the audience, or potential audience, but I don’t think the KEY demographics are being alienated by it. Like it or not, I think Silver and company has a responsibility to align itself with those movements, since
it is a player driven league and it’s what the players wanted. In short, the NBA will probably never be the ratings powerhouse that the NFL is but why does that matter to those that are already a fan? In my view that’s just something detractors like to hurl at the league like “see. See how much you fucked up. I told you so.” But I’m inclined to believe that the large majority of those saying that haven’t been real fans of the league for the better part of 10-20 years anyways.
I think catering to the players is a real problem with the league. The political stuff is a bad play for appealing to as wide an audience as possible, but if you really care about basketball then you get over it.
The players plot where they want to play. They take off weeks during the regular season. That's going to turn people off and it's showing. If today's fans only consume the league through highlights on their phones, they are going to have to figure out a way to monetize it. And I think that will work about as well as newspapers going digital.