Marley, you’re fighting a fight that you long since lost. There is a very significant group of people, myself included, that used to be big NBA fans and now no longer care if the league folds or not. The apathy is real, it’s not just the OP. The truth is that the NBA has been losing fans for years. Perhaps they are gaining a significant number of new fans that cover their losses, but I admittedly haven’t been paying attention and the economic situation they’re currently facing makes that somewhat dubious.
The fight I’m fighting isn’t about the demographics of NBA fandom, it’s about people assuming everybody shares their opinions without any factual support.
People stop watching sports all the time for different reasons, including the fact that the style of play is no longer to their liking. One guy saying “I don’t watch basketball anymore” (or two or three guys, and ‘tens of columnists’) does not mean the sport is hemorrhaging fans and nobody cares about it anymore. I’ve watched approximately zero hockey since the lockout. Does that mean nobody watches hockey anymore? Of course not. It means I no longer watch hockey. Factually, they lost fans with the lockout but I’m pretty sure the league has been moving in the right direction since then. I’ve never been a golf fan, but that doesn’t mean nobody watches golf. Some baseball fans never came back after the 1994 strike, but if I were one of them and said I was proof nobody cares about MLB anymore, I’d sound like an idiot. Watching basketball or not is your prerogative; the OP has made clear many times over the years that he doesn’t like it anymore. That’s fine. Drawing a conclusion about worldwide interest in a sport based on your own apathy toward it is kind of ridiculous.
I think the NBA (and the NHL) are a lot more of a “Playoff sport”. The beginning of the season is a big hype for the NFL and also for baseball (when you get all the sappy stories about how it and spring are rebirth). Plus I don’t know if NBA is really an off season sport. You can hear plenty of people calling sports talk shows on whom their NFL team should take with the 20th selection. A 20th best maateur NBA player isn’t as well known and probably won’t make aas big an impact due to smaller rosters. MLB has free agency. LeBron James was a big thing a year ago but most of thime they stay. Baseball this winter will have, off the top of my head, Pujols, Fielder and Reyes.
I think if a lockout happens there may not be much attention paid (there were a number “I don’;t really miss the NHL” back in 2005) but when it returns it will still be popular. Maybe a lower level at first but fans kind of expect these things nowadays like people in Buffalo expect snowstorms in winter.
“I don’t know how Nixon won, nobody I know voted for him.”
I go to 4-5 NBA games a season, and the stands are full of white guys. The fans are out there, they’re just not the guys you hang out with.
Time to bring some facts into this, the NBA is more popular than ever. The Finals also did better than usual. If you are not an NBA fan you don’t hear about it, i only watch basketball and this thread is where i found out the NFL had a lockout.
I don’t think anyone believes the NBA is more popular than ever, and I doubt minds will change after reading the one article you’ve linked to. The finals were also more interesting to the casual fan because of Lebron James and the Heat. The heyday of the NBA is long over (Bird and Johnson basically SAVED the league, and Jordan’s rise to dominance continued to carry the torch). Ever since Jordan retired, however, there hasn’t been a player compelling enough to carry the league. Lebron could be that guy, but he has to win championships first.
I won’t miss the NBA. I love college basketball, but the game at the pro level is so boring to me. I cannot understand how people get into it. To each his own, though. My love of hockey is probably just as mysterious to them.
I will be curious as to what SportsCenter will do if the season is cancelled, however. Out of a 60 minute show, 45 minutes were dedicated to the NBA. If ESPN had an NHL contract instead of a basketball contract, you’d barely hear a whisper from them.
Maybe the NBA can become relevant again if the season is cancelled. Perhaps they could contract a few teams and make the remaining teams better. They could also revamp the playoff structure to make the regular season relevant. I’d also like to see that little troll Stern punted from the league forever.
Well you are certainly free to believe whatever you want but revenues, ratings and attendance are all up, if you got anything besides “i personally don’t like it and don’t pay attention to NBA news” to back up your claims i’d love to hear them.
So, wait… if more people are watching it on TV than before, and more people are going to the games than before, and more people are buying the shirts and the bobbleheads and the what-all-ever…
Why wouldn’t anyone believe that the NBA is more popular than ever?