NBA Cup Final Faces Uphill Battle To End Slumping TV Ratings

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunder meet for the championship of the NBA Cup at Las Vegas on Tuesday with the league hoping viewership will be strong enough to quiet all the talk about declining television ratings. Don’t count on it.The in-season tournament, now in its second year, was created to add interest to the regular season and there is no better time for that to become a reality. According to Front Office Sports, the league’s ratings have dropped 48 percent over the past 12 years and this year are down 28 percent on ESPN, while TNT’s ratings are close to last year’s at 1.8 million viewers a game.A match-up between small market teams Milwaukee and Oklahoma City isn’t likely to change the downward trend despite the brightly painted courts used during the in-season tournament games. The NBA signed an 11-year $76 billion media rights deal this summer, which nearly triples its current contract. The deal includes games on Disney-owned ABC and ESPN, plus Amazon’s Prime Video and NBC Universal. Will the outlets get their money’s worth? Not a chance if the ratings continue to decline.“One or two games are not going to change things with the ratings,” an NBA source connected to one of the league’s press partners told the Sun. “There’s too many factors that are causing the decline.”There’s no quick fix for the several factors theorized to have caused the decline. NBA commissioner Adam Silver told Front Office sports part of the decline can be attributed to high interest in the World Series between the New York Yankees and eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the presidential election. Only it’s more than that.“I don’t think it’s just one thing,” said the source, who did not want his name used. “It’s a perfect storm.”Style of Play is one. Isolations and a heavy reliance on three-point shooting have taken all the creativity out of the NBA. There are no back-door cuts, or brilliant ball movement showcased in the Magic Johnson era or the defensive tenacity of teams like the Detroit “Bad Boys” Pistons and New York Knicks of the 1990s. According to Front Office Sports, the average team is shooting 37 threes a game this season, a 50 percent increase from 2015. “Everybody’s running the same plays,” Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal said on his podcast. “I don’t mind Golden State back in the day shooting threes, but every team is a three-point shooter.”Load Management is turning off fans. The practice of resting players in certain games is intended to keep them fresh for the playoffs. Before the season began, Philadelphia Sixers star Joel Embiid said he would not play the second of back-to-back games. “If I had to guess, I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career,” Mr. Embiid told ESPN.Mr. Embiid, who was the 2023 NBA MVP, has endured an injury-filled career, but load management has become an epidemic the league tried to address by adding incentives for games played and denying eligibility for major awards to players who haven’t played enough games. The subtle message is that teams don’t value the regular season beyond winning enough games to make the playoffs, so why should television viewers?Too much competition is also a factor. The Major League Baseball playoffs could have impacted NBA ratings in October. The five-game World Series averaged 15.81 million viewers, across all platforms. It’s the highest average since 2017 when the Houston Astros won in seven games over the Dodgers. The NFL, which attracts huge interest from sports betters, is also in the midst of its season during October, November, and December. Meanwhile, streaming platforms offer other sports like soccer, college sports, MMA, and hockey. Knowing the NBA has an 82-game schedule eliminates any urgency to watch each game with plenty of options available.Other potential reasons for disengagement include: player involvement in social justice issues, players changing teams more frequently, and the aging of crossover American superstars. The face of the NBA, LeBron James, turns 40 this month, and Stephen Curry is 36.International players are overshadowing the next generation of American superstars. Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece leads Milwaukee, while Oklahoma City’s leader is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Canada. Denver Nuggets sensation Nikola Jokic of Serbia won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award last year and could win his third this year.Lastly, but not to be ignored, is the growing popularity of Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, which set viewership records this past season.Will the NBA ratings improve after the Super Bowl? The media platforms that spent $76 billion hope so.

NBA Cup Final Faces Uphill Battle To End Slumping TV Ratings

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