Top reasons why NBA won’t ever be as big domestically as NFL
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:37 pm
I'd think the list should include most or all of these reasons:
Not as violent
Not as big a spectacle
Too many games
Scoring is too easy
Celebrations are smaller
No tail-gating
Not enough gambling
Almost half the season played during football season
Too tied to urban youth culture
Too much crappy noise and pop music
Too few "white" U.S. players and stars
Too many foul calls for minor contact
Referring seems less accurate / neutral
Too much is known about player misbehavior
Too many players standing around standing around / clogging things
Too many outside jumpshots
Too many games decided fairly early
Individual games don’t mean enough
Too many people standing up and obstructing views
Too many weekday night games
Too much direct competition with college game
Too few teams who have won titles
Too few owners perceived as doing enough
Too few quality coaches
Too repetitive
Too many turnovers
Too many crappy eastern teams
Generally weak national TV commentators
Too few blue-collar white fans
Too few fans outside the home city
Less attractive product for local TV (because of random schedule)
Less significant fan support clubs than football
Too many overpaid past their prime stars
Too many not really ready young players
Not as fully committed to team work
Not as much attention to detail
Too much half-assing
Too much whining
Too much flopping
Too many players not really that skilled or only good on one side of the court
Not enough dunking compared to people’s taste and familiarity with it
Too many and too long injury absences
Too much NBA smaltzy in your face social activism
Too much little action / low meaning court time between the important bits
Maybe too much attention to stats
Too many visible tattoos
Too many ugly jerseys
Crappy halftime shows
Not enough parking
Too much tanking
Too much team movement and threatened team movements
Too many mediocre ball hogs
I gave up the NFL a long time ago so this is not coming from an NFL devotee. I am a long-time NBA follower but off and on I think I might give it up or at least reduce attention to it. Still, for me it is the most / only interesting sport. Not all these flaws are that important but the list is long and will be very hard to overcome without dramatic action , which I doubt Silver will make. They may want to be #1 but they seem fairly satisfied where they are at now. I guess we will see when the next national TV contracts get done whether there is any significant change. If Silver wanted to make serious efforts toward this goal, he should think pretty big, perhaps doing one or more of these:
Expand by 6 teams over 5-10 years to expand the interested public for TV deals, etc. If they are to have any hope of moving up against other sports they need more beachheads of strength.
A much stronger B league in big cities with the possibility of the best teams playing their way into the league (at 3-5 years, with a huge franchise fee of course).
Go to 4 on 4 to improve movement and reduce payrolls and spread the best talent.
Maybe go to 40 minutes game and / or longer quarter breaks (to reduce viewer fatigue and keep top talent on court for high % of time).
3 points for dunks. If it is "NBA entertainment", give people more of what they want. Of at least further diminish offensive fouling.
Radical reduction of ticky-tack foul calls in general.
Raffles with decent sized prizes at games? (a safer form of gambling for women and families)
Possibly go to a split early fall and spring schedule with 2 sets of playoffs. (Many viewers don't give a crap about regular season) Compete more during baseball season than football?
And more steps to address other issues named above.
Not as violent
Not as big a spectacle
Too many games
Scoring is too easy
Celebrations are smaller
No tail-gating
Not enough gambling
Almost half the season played during football season
Too tied to urban youth culture
Too much crappy noise and pop music
Too few "white" U.S. players and stars
Too many foul calls for minor contact
Referring seems less accurate / neutral
Too much is known about player misbehavior
Too many players standing around standing around / clogging things
Too many outside jumpshots
Too many games decided fairly early
Individual games don’t mean enough
Too many people standing up and obstructing views
Too many weekday night games
Too much direct competition with college game
Too few teams who have won titles
Too few owners perceived as doing enough
Too few quality coaches
Too repetitive
Too many turnovers
Too many crappy eastern teams
Generally weak national TV commentators
Too few blue-collar white fans
Too few fans outside the home city
Less attractive product for local TV (because of random schedule)
Less significant fan support clubs than football
Too many overpaid past their prime stars
Too many not really ready young players
Not as fully committed to team work
Not as much attention to detail
Too much half-assing
Too much whining
Too much flopping
Too many players not really that skilled or only good on one side of the court
Not enough dunking compared to people’s taste and familiarity with it
Too many and too long injury absences
Too much NBA smaltzy in your face social activism
Too much little action / low meaning court time between the important bits
Maybe too much attention to stats
Too many visible tattoos
Too many ugly jerseys
Crappy halftime shows
Not enough parking
Too much tanking
Too much team movement and threatened team movements
Too many mediocre ball hogs
I gave up the NFL a long time ago so this is not coming from an NFL devotee. I am a long-time NBA follower but off and on I think I might give it up or at least reduce attention to it. Still, for me it is the most / only interesting sport. Not all these flaws are that important but the list is long and will be very hard to overcome without dramatic action , which I doubt Silver will make. They may want to be #1 but they seem fairly satisfied where they are at now. I guess we will see when the next national TV contracts get done whether there is any significant change. If Silver wanted to make serious efforts toward this goal, he should think pretty big, perhaps doing one or more of these:
Expand by 6 teams over 5-10 years to expand the interested public for TV deals, etc. If they are to have any hope of moving up against other sports they need more beachheads of strength.
A much stronger B league in big cities with the possibility of the best teams playing their way into the league (at 3-5 years, with a huge franchise fee of course).
Go to 4 on 4 to improve movement and reduce payrolls and spread the best talent.
Maybe go to 40 minutes game and / or longer quarter breaks (to reduce viewer fatigue and keep top talent on court for high % of time).
3 points for dunks. If it is "NBA entertainment", give people more of what they want. Of at least further diminish offensive fouling.
Radical reduction of ticky-tack foul calls in general.
Raffles with decent sized prizes at games? (a safer form of gambling for women and families)
Possibly go to a split early fall and spring schedule with 2 sets of playoffs. (Many viewers don't give a crap about regular season) Compete more during baseball season than football?
And more steps to address other issues named above.