thelesterlee
So far, the 2024 NBA TV ratings are down.
The NBA’s opening night ratings were down 42% from last year. The entire first week of games saw double-digit percentage drop-offs.
NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, fought back against some critiques and said this to defend his product:
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the three-point shot. I think we’re just looking at a couple weeks of ratings, there’s always some unique things, this year we were up against a World Series. You had a presidential election that was commanding an enormous amount of attention. So I don’t think it has anything whatsoever to do with the style of play on the floor.”
The World Series and the election. Those are certainly things that have happened recently. I agree that those events took place—no way to argue that.
Every social media algorithm feeds me millions of NBA-related posts.
Most small talk I have with other plus-ones is about how the Knicks are doing this season.
This weekend I saw a maniac in a Pacers Siakam jersey. I hope that man is behind bars before anyone got hurt. Disgusting behavior. You see a guy in a brand new Pascal away kit, dial 9-1-1. See something, say something.
Oh, the NBA also just got $77 BILLION over the next 11 years in TV contracts with ESPN and Amazon.
The NBA is fine.
So why should you care about declining NBA TV ratings?
Well, you can use this as an opportunity to air out your own personal grievances and push your agendas.
Do you believe teams are shooting too many 3’s, grating against your perforated memories of a superior product you watched as a kid? The NBA TV ratings are down because players shoot from slightly further away than they used to.
Do you hate “load management”, even though if you look around the league right now, it feels like a ton of guys—like Tyrese Haliburton or Joel Embiid—are playing through injuries they should 1000% be sitting down to heal? The NBA TV ratings are down because the stars don’t play enough. LeBron James and Steph Curry are a combined 75 years old and they’re out there playing 35+ minutes for teams on national television weekly—but yea, the stars don’t play.
Do you think the NBA is too political because they painted Black Lives Matters on the court 4 years ago when literally every corporation was pretending to be Fred Hampton Black Panthers for clout? The NBA TV ratings are down because the negroes the players are too political. Sure. Clay.
This is your chance to be annoying. We all know the TV ratings are down because no two people watch television the same way. Just pretend to care about this so you can get your shit off.
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