There Are More People Interested in Why They're No Longer Interested in the NBA Than Are Interested in the NBA
Why is the NBA decline discourse popping?
From Myles Brown on Twitter/X:
All the yap about threes or All Star effort or whatever else is besides the point. It doesn’t matter how the game is played once people are given the impression the game itself doesn’t matter. Now people are more interested in discussing NBA ratings than the actual NBA. Hilarious.
Yep, this captures the situation, especially, “Now people are more interested in discussing NBA ratings than the actual NBA.”
I haven’t much discussed NBA television ratings this season, in part because the league signed their gazillion dollar TV rights deal last offseason, ending all suspense over what such a contract might look like. With that business aspect wrapped up, I expected the topic to fade out. Instead, much to my surprise, it’s been very much the opposite. There’s been more media discussion about declining NBA interest than I can remember happening in any season. Coaches are even getting asked about it in press conferences.
It looks like the signing of the TV deal made the situation into a bigger topic somehow. My theory for why is a combination of a) Some mainstream sports media figures feel more comfortable discussing the topic now that they’re not costing Adam Silver potential billions and b) Post-deal, the NBA’s senioritis is now so palpable that all its issues are made more salient. Oh, and also I should add c) The ratings really are dropping hard. In this vein, I’ll tell you something else that surprised me.
So I’ve got this YouTube channel where, mostly for the sake of discoverability, we post House of Strauss podcast clips. With Elon’s Twitter/X suppressing links, I needed to find ways to get the word out about the HoS Substack. Accidentally, the venture has become a source of sports media market research, with unexpected results.