🏈 Just heard on the news last nights NBA game lowest ratings in history. GM 1 was also.

[SoCalPatrick]

I know a lot of you guys don't follow the NBA, but Lebron walking off the court before time expired says a lot about that guy.

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Game 1 of the Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat brought in only 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That is reportedly the lowest viewership seen for the Finals since at least 1994, when total viewers began to be regularly recorded.

The number is down 45 percent from last year’s Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors, which had 13.51 million viewers. This is the fourth straight year Game 1 viewership has gone down compared to the previous season.

Why are the NBA’s ratings down?

News of the NBA’s ratings struggles will undoubtedly be received with glee from President Donald Trump, who has previously attributed the league’s lagging viewership to its protests against racial injustice.

Political polarization could very well play a part in the dip, but there are likely several reasons behind the NBA’s decline. The league’s young viewership has been increasingly cutting the cord for years, often consuming games through streaming and highlights on social media. This season has been something of a surreal experience, and the four-month interruption in play could have turned off some casual viewers. Sports fans have been facing a highly truncated sports landscape in the last few months, with several spring and summer events moved to fall. This year’s Finals is seen as a fairly lopsided matchup, and the Lakers didn’t need long to show it.

The NBA certainly isn’t happy its ratings are down, especially in a series featuring the Lakers, but there are still reasons for optimism for the future of the league, as well as its competitors.

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[TerryP]

News of the NBA’s ratings struggles will undoubtedly be received with glee from President Donald Trump, who has previously attributed the league’s lagging viewership to its protests against racial injustice.

It never gets old with me. "Let's make it about POTUS if at all possible." You'd think I'd stop finding it funny. But, no.

Political polarization could very well play a part in the dip, but there are likely several reasons behind the NBA’s decline. The league’s young viewership has been increasingly cutting the cord for years, often consuming games through streaming and highlights on social media.

It was on ABC. ABC is over the air, a free broadcast. Am I too assume ...

This younger generation doesn't have TV's?

The "often consuming games through streaming and social media" is down right dishonest. Those are tracked now-a-day just like TV's have been.

 

[mando]

Takeaway - Trumps fault and in no way can it be about the rioting and NBA's support of that. Wash rinse and repeat.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

America is sick of over paid ... high n mighty athletes who don't have a clue what real America is about

I wouldn't watch those kneeling MFs if j was being payed.
Yes i do watch CF. They just are emulating what they see the facist are doing

j care about tbe game. I watch the game. Not the players

 

[XXL TideFan]

This is a very good thing. Athletes are like actors, shut up and entertain me. You’re a paid performer, you do not have any special insight and you are not more intelligent than your consumers, many times you are exceptionally ignorant.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Hand to God, I had no idea who the Lakers were playing in the Finals until I read that article. I knew the Lakers were in it only because of all the social media chatter about them. If you had given me 10 guesses, I don't believe I'd have guessed the Heat.

 

[rick4bama]

I knew I missed something that I wasn't going to watch!!

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Hand to God, I had no idea who the Lakers were playing in the Finals until I read that article. I knew the Lakers were in it only because of all the social media chatter about them. If you had given me 10 guesses, I don't believe I'd have guessed the Heat.

I couldn't Tell you who was in any of the playoffs. And dont care.
nba. Mlb. Any of others.
I couldn't name half dozen players total in any sport not called football.
Again. I love football. I watch the game. But not the players. In my mind yhere is a difference too

 

[c5vetman]

ratings are down in a year where any real sport SHOULD attract more viewers simply because there's been such a lack of something to watch... hmmm...

 

[50+yeartidefan]

ratings are down in a year where any real sport SHOULD attract more viewers simply because there's been such a lack of something to watch... hmmm...

Its not the sport...its the players...thats why its down

 

[PurlJam]

The NBA still exists?

 

[c5vetman]

exactly... the players are the reason... even though I hate basketball of all shapes and types, the players in that league make it so much worse. You couldn't pay me to watch an NBA game, though my son likes it and Lebron, no matter how well I've raised him LOL