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Post by robeiae on Oct 3, 2020 8:16:50 GMT -5
...said almost no one. And there was even a story to this year's finals: LeBron and Miami. Maybe last night was better? I'm thinking no. To be fair, it's not just the NBA. But the NBA does seem to have the most people currently mouthing off, so I can't pretend there's no smug satisfaction here.
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Post by Optimus on Oct 3, 2020 12:57:59 GMT -5
I used to think LeBron was okay (he's no Jordan or Kobe, though, and never will be) but now I just find him insufferably annoying. Maybe it's his grating personality, where he thinks he's more funny and deep than he actually is. Maybe it's his hard turn recently into saying incredibly stupid woke things that aren't at all based in reality. Not sure, but if I were to guess it's probably shit like that plus the NBA's obvious pandering to woke politics recently that's turned a lot of people off to it. Same has happened to MLB and, to a certain extent, NFL. When will these organizations realize that people don't want that shit in their recreation? "Get woke, go broke" isn't just a cliché. It's becoming more of a truism with each day. |
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Post by robeiae on Oct 5, 2020 6:48:31 GMT -5
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Post by michaelw on Oct 7, 2020 3:05:21 GMT -5
Not sure, but if I were to guess it's probably shit like that plus the NBA's obvious pandering to woke politics recently that's turned a lot of people off to it. Same has happened to MLB and, to a certain extent, NFL. I guess that could be a factor, but less political sports like horse racing and golf are down, as well. And the NBA finals in particular have been going down for a few years now, if I'm not mistaken. (2020 has fewer viewers than 2019, but 2019 had fewer than 2018, which itself had fewer than 2017.) Plus on top of that, the playoffs this year are overlapping with the NFL season, which normally wouldn't happen, obviously. I doubt that's the only factor, but at the same time, it probably can't help, right? |
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Post by robeiae on Oct 7, 2020 8:02:08 GMT -5
The numbers in the Outkick piece look wroing. Maybe they were preliminary? Anyway, Game 2 is still the least watched NBA finals game ever with 6.1 million (better than 4.5 million) viewers. Or at least it was, until Game 3: I think numbers for hockey are similarly bad, though not at historic lows (which probably has something to do with the fringe nature of hockey in the not-so-distant past). Still, an LA-Miami match-up should have been a dream scenario for the NBA. Contrast it with the Dallas-Tampa Bay match-up in the NHL. No comparison, really. Those are not nation-wide draws for the NHL. They're "screw this, I'm going ice-fishing" finals for Canadian audiences. I think the NBA has a real problem. |
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Post by michaelw on Oct 7, 2020 8:15:23 GMT -5
Yep. Just to be clear, I wasn't disputing that the ratings were lower than in the past, only speculating on the why. Another thought: if the ratings dipped from 7.4 to 5.9 million between game 1 and game 3, wouldn't that by itself suggest the possibility of apolitical factors at play? (Given that the political messaging had been present before the series even started.)
Maybe people just got bored, figuring the series was more or less non-competitive?
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Post by robeiae on Oct 7, 2020 8:34:30 GMT -5
I think boredom is a key element here, but not specific to the finals. I think a lot of people are just bored with the NBA, the way it's played, the way it's hyped (over-hyped imo, by most NBA reporters and analysts*), and so on. And players mouthing off about justice, while eating shit for China just makes it easier to ignore the league, imo. I think the road back for the NBA is a long one that is definitely post-LeBron. * I am of the growing opinion that ESPN has become bad for sports, particularly sports that it broadcasts, because it over-hypes these sports (or leagues) and pretends that they're the most popular sports. It didn't use to be this way, at all. Look at the ESPN NBA website. You won't see any stories on declining ratings or much--if any--negative press for the NBA in general. |
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