Speaking to Joe Vardon and Sam Amick of The Athletic and other media outlets on Tuesday ahead of the NBA Cup championship game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the league’s television ratings are “down a bit” this season, but expressed confidence that interest in the league remains strong.
“If you look at other data points, in terms of our business, for example, we’ve just come off the last two years of the highest attendance in the history of this league,” Silver said. “We’re at a point where our social media audience is at the highest of any league and continuing to grow exponentially. So, it’s not a lack of interest in this game.”
Silver pointed out that the NBA isn’t the only league dealing with a decline in traditional television ratings. According to Sports Media Watch, while the ratings for NBA national broadcasts are down 19% compared to the same period last year, men’s college basketball (21%), the NHL (28%), and women’s college basketball (38%) have seen more significant ratings dips. Viewership for college football games has also dropped across all networks this fall, per Sports Media Watch, albeit by single-digit percentages.
“We’re almost at the inflection point where people are watching more programming on streaming than they are in traditional television,” Silver said. “And it’s a reason why for our new television deals, which will enter into next year, every game is going to be available on a streaming service. And as we move to streaming service, putting aside how the actual game is played on the floor, it’s going to allow us from a production standpoint to do all kinds of things that you can’t do through traditional television. All kinds of new functionality, all kinds of new options and screens that are available.”
Some fans and league observers have suggested that a focus on analytics, which has led to a significant increase in three-point shots, has hurt the game’s appeal. According to Vardon and Amick, Silver said moving back the three-point line isn’t something the NBA is seriously considering, but he made it clear the league is having “discussions about the style of basketball” and is open to rule tweaks that wouldn’t drastically change the game.
“It’s not unique to the NBA, where analytics start to be too controlling and create situations where players are doing seemingly unnatural things because they’re being directed to do something that is a more efficient shot,” Silver said. “And part of what we’re focusing on, too, is that what makes these players so incredible is the joy they bring to playing the game and the freestyle notion of the game too.”
Here are a few more highlights from Silver’s media session on Tuesday:
- Silver confirmed that the NBA and FIBA have been discussing launching a new professional league in Europe. “We’re not ready to make any public announcements. We haven’t made any internal decisions yet, but I do think there continues to be an enormous opportunity to take basketball to another level in Europe,” Silver said, per The Athletic. “I think the quality of the basketball in Europe has been fantastic. Many of our top players, of course, are from Europe, but we think there is more of a commercial and fan opportunity to create something special in Europe.”
- Responding to NBA team executives who believe the trade rules in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement have had unintended consequences that have made it too challenging to make deals, Silver suggested those consequences were, in fact, intended, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “I understand the frustration of some of the general managers because particularly if you go over the apron, we’ve cut down on your flexibility,” Silver said. “But that was the very intent of the second apron and with the goal being to have a better distribution of star talent around the league. And I think we’ve been successful in doing that.”
- As Reynolds relays, the commissioner pointed to the Bucks (a second apron team) and the Thunder (operating under both aprons) ahead of the NBA Cup final as proof that teams can still succeed using a variety of cap/spending strategies under the new system. “There’s many different ways to win,” Silver said.
- Asked about whether Las Vegas will continue to host the NBA Cup semifinals and final going forward, Silver acknowledged that some teams have expressed interest in playing those games in their home markets. While the league isn’t shutting the door on that idea, it would make scheduling more complicated, according to the commissioner, who said he likes the job Vegas has done as a host the past two years. “You start to build in tradition, you have a lot of fans who can circle these dates on their calendar and plan to come to Las Vegas, plan a holiday around it,” Silver said. “I think the teams are on both sides. I think they like the idea of winning that opportunity to play at home. But then you’ve got to move tickets very short term. We have some experience doing that in the playoffs, but this is a little bit different.”
Gambling is propping the league up at this point. They won’t bother trying to fix ratings until that revenue stream is regulated.
Wrong, gambling is just making it more money. It was a billion dollar industry before gambling.
People won’t watch if the product is bad. Gamblers don’t care. They just want their parlay to hit
It’s a shame the NBA is forcing top players to play when not right so that the gamblers don’t end up blindsided with their bets. Or they push you to bet on anything and everything like maybe who’s going to make the next basket. Geez!
The ratings are down because the product isn’t very good.
Or, the more likely scenario, which is that television ratings are inevitably going to decline as streaming becomes increasingly prominent
The product is as good as its ever been, 1980s games look like they were played in slow motion these days. The problem is the league not promoting the players at all, unless its to say what bad people they are. They made the fans hate the players so much so that no one cares anymore, and we have this idiotic fan-type these days who care more about team finances and individual player stats in a team game than a teams W-L record.
Highest scoring gm in nba history is in the 80s.
Top 10 nba scoring gms more than half are 90s n 80s. Even one in 60s.
Al, I looked that up a few days ago and was shocked lmao
Right
How does the product not being very good explain record setting in-person attendance? Cable tv viewership is down in general and has been falling steadily since 2010.
Adam Silver is such a f***ing idiot!
How insightful. Not saying the dude is perfect, but how exactly is feedback like this supposed to help?
Ok hes an idiot because:
People like streaming because they can watch programs on demand instead of scheduling the viewings when they air. You cant do that with the NBA because people watch sports live.
If too many 3s was really the problem Steph wouldnt be the leagues top 2 most popular players the last decade with like .5 dunks a season.
People dont like games taking forever because of FT yet the reffing seems to get worse and worse each season. They need to not nerf defense and limit the stoppages.
Stars would play if the schedule wasnt soooo stupid (worse with the IST). No momentum or effort on the leagues part to do any real solve for this.
If your doing mini team all stars its literally insane to think some rando rising stars team can compete with the 24 of the best 40 players in the league (The east will for sure have players making it over better players in the west).
OKC has done one of the best tear downs and rebuilds in NBA history, and gotten lucky with a bunch of draft picks and role player contracts. OKC will also become actually expensive next year, and so expensive they have to start sacrificing talent for payroll reasons the year after. The fact they built this team and will have to gut the 3-15 parts of the roster of any real money to keep Shai/JW/Chet on the maxes they will soon be on is the whole problem. The tax apron shouldnt be a vehicle for breaking up home grown teams.
The IST is a stupid tournament. Its trying to be something cool from EFL football it cant, and moving it later in the season just shows it didnt do what they said it was for, getting people to watch before xmas, but they also have sold the rights and stuff so they cant scrap it.
You will almost never have a good IST crowd in LV since it will never be feasible outside an LA/PHX team for fans to go.
The refs F*** Steph for years and the league never does s***!
The WNBA is a good growing property and theyre still not paying the athletes s***. Whats CC making this season as a “face of the league” who they now are discouraging from playing in EU with rules oh right its less than a G league player and far less than a 2 way…
Zero fundamentals, zero adjustments or strategy in today’s game. The mantra for NBA players now these days are “if you are open shoot it”. This is why guys like Jordan Clarkson with 33% career 3PT shooter while attempting 6.1 3PTA for his career. Jrue Holiday thinks he’s Steve Nash or Steph out there with 17 3PTA the other night and only made 4 of them. Not every shot is a good shot in the NBA these days, and the fact there’s no real rivalries, mixed in with random on the fly changes to the game or sport like IST or ASG. It’s nauseating.
Last good NBA season was 2019, after that it’s been a terrible product since Covid as well.
They need to stop nerfing defense with rules. This a guy leans 20 degrees to his side as he barrels into a defender and gets the foul call is insane. Allowing guys to just forearm shiver defenders out of the way when defenders arent allowed to use hands or arms at all face up. There was a play in the cup game I think where Draymond is completely square to both the player and the basket maintaining position between the player and the hoop and he got hit for a charge. If you arent allowed to stay in front of a guy like that legally the rules need to change. 100% square offensive player initiates the contact and upon review its a defensive foul.
The Refs are inconsistent and every team is complaining. We need same calls every game instead of some crews calling everything.
The NBA will need to embrace technology for this to happen…
Either that or have less games on at the same time so they can fly the same 3 officials around the country to each game… But eveb then it’ll be inconsistent…
Some of it is using tech to get more calls right, and with some like guys holding Steph it should get called till all players realize they cant do it ever. Like eliminate the way players learn to foul in ways a ref cant see easily but is always obvious with multi angle replay. Hawk eye should eliminate a lot of the off ball fouls that occur when refs are watching elsewhere, and should be able to much better adjudicate moving screens.
On the flip though some of it has nothing to do with missing calls. Its rules that are stupid and give the offensive player so much advantage right now.
You hit a problem with the NBA and didn’t realize it. Fundamentals. The one-and-done philosophy. Jrue Holiday played 1 season of college ball. Nash played 4 years. Players need those years to develop. Now, a 4 year guy is frowned upon.
The beginning of the end for the NBA. Just not a lot of players fans want to watch and ticket prices are way too high. If it wasn’t for gambling no one would be watching.
Maybe tell the refs to start calling all the fouls committed on Steph Curry, the one guy everyone who isnt a mentally ill superfan wants to see win.
Some of the comments in this thread make me question my humanity…
I can’t be from the same species…
Haters will always find something to hate. I’m not a big fan of running up and down. Throwing up threes. But when it comes to winning. You must run an offense and play D.
Did you watch Bucks over OKC.
Best team in West got spanked by a bigger team. That plays to win. It’s why they say the gm always slows down in playoffs. Too many forget it’s a 2Way sport. You win gms by playing both ways as a team.
I watch all the time. This is the best gm in the world.
“Contributor. After several months of negotiations, the NBA reached an agreement with ESPN/ABC, NBCU and Amazon Prime Video in a new $76 billion, 11-year contract. The media rights agreement begins with the 2025-26 season and represents an increase of 160% per season compared to the current contract.Jul 29, 20324.”
It’s so bad that they paid 160% MORE than last deal. Basketball is number two to Real Football in the world. America is where The Dream Team is from.
I guess two small market teams in the NBA Cup is not what Silver had in mind for ratings. I guess he will have to “fix” that.
If the goal is to make the two point shot, especially between 15 ft and the 3 pt line more relevant then the 3 pt line needs to moved back so that the average make rate is 27%. The expected value is the same as shooting 40% from the long 2 pt shot. That is just straight analytics.
Possible effects:
1. The importance of big man within inside play skill set goes up.
2. Players with good mid to long range two games like DeRozan also become more valuable.
3. Three point shot frequency goes down proportionately with only the most talented three point shooters making those long attempts.
4. The three point shot becomes more of a come back strategy than a main focus as it is now.
I would like it if the line was a uniform distance that didn’t go all the way to the corner. Guys just standing in the corner to spread out the defense is boring basketball. Give the defense a chance to guard as a team that way and not just have three guys playing offense and two guys standing in the corner.
OKC and Milwaukee are the 10th and 14th scoring teams in NBA. Yet they both scored under a 100. And the most dominant team won with their D.
This is a 2Way sport. If you don’t get this or understand this. Then you don’t like this game.
OKC vs Milwaukee was a great game. Both competed and played to win. In a 2Way sport. You win with either. The game will tell you which one you win with.
For all the Cup haters. That one extra game a yr means the end of the world. You missed a great gm.
You play to win the game ………. This is competition.
This is what the NBA should be selling. Not scoring and playing no D. Might as well make competition a 3PT contest 82 times a yr. See who watches that !!
The NBA doesn’t need to change any the official rules, just reinstate them by eliminating the league’s required “interpretations” of them.
Too many here (and elsewhere) want to out-Silver Silver. I get the frustration. But, instead, maybe just Trust the Game. It’s actual rules can fit on a single page, and are both simple and intuitive enough that they have been applied with little controversey for most of the league’s history. Without any need for Silver’s 500 page interpretive guide. The goals of brevity, consistency and balance are achieved, not by brilliance, but just by applying the same rules to all 10 players on the court.