NBA tanking, adios https://t.co/4uZj430HLi— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) September 1, 2020
Posted on 09/01/2020 3:29:45 PM PDT by conservative98
With their boycott of games earlier this week to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, athletes in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have crossed a bridge that they may find difficult to return from. Though professional athletes have become increasingly politicized since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began his “Star Spangled Banner” protests in 2016, the widespread cancellation of games, including NBA playoff contests, is unprecedented.
The walkout in support of Blake, who was wanted on a sexual-assault charge and whose own girlfriend called the cops on him, hardly represents the kind of compelling case against police brutality one might build a mass movement around. If players, in the midst of a pandemic slowdown already costing professional sports billions of dollars, were willing to shut down their industry in this instance, how frequently will they feel compelled, or even pressured, to do the same in the future? Fans who were already watching less sports may react negatively to being lectured by wealthy athletes who regularly walk off the job.
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But the players themselves don’t hold all the cards. Americans have been falling progressively out of love with the NBA, for instance, and the pandemic has only exacerbated an already difficult situation. TV ratings, mediocre after the season restarted, are down collectively by 40 percent on the TNT network, and 20 percent on ESPN, since their peak nearly a decade ago. Even more troubling is that the league’s network TV premium broadcasts ratings on ABC are off by 45 percent, what a former public relations executive for the NBA describes as a “cratering” of viewership.
(Excerpt) Read more at city-journal.org ...
I’m praying that that’s already happened. “Alienating and Cratering”.
They’re big boys. They ALL know what they’re doing. Screw em.
Screw these over-paid whiny boys for playing boys’ games and getting riches beyond their importance.
The NBA was actually increasing its viewership into last year, contrary to what the writer says. But they were always a poor third to MLB and NFL, and now they have pretty well fouled their own nest. For a game that boils down to “dribble pass dribble shoot,” as my daughter once said, they have taken a gamble they cannot afford to lose. Not a fan anyway, but watching the debacle is more fun than watching a game.
Hopefully they’ve bankrupted themselves. And if not yet, then soon. We aren’t giving a penny to watch them play
I haven’t seen any ratings/viewership numbers since the MLB and NHL cancelled/delayed games late last week.
I have seen articles indicating that both MLB and NHL are losing ticket holders and some sponsors.
here’s hoping they all just cease existence
“pro athletes threaten to alienate fans and crater their own industry.”
EXCELLENT NEWS!
Remember, mlb is blm backwards. :-)
Get Woke.
Go Broke.
NFL, NBA, MLB are dead to me.
I’m done with organized rip-off, overpaid, undereducated professional athletes (sorry the good ones have to suffer because of the racist and Marxist fools amongst them).
I’ve noticed that Target is not restocking sports trading cards (ex. no Topps Series 1 & 2; No Donruss; no Prestige or Absolute; almost nothing from Panini except NASCAR (great cards - the best ever made). No SCORE.
These are the most commonly collected, affordable basic cards to collect. If this is a sign of hesitation or withdrawal (at least for this year) from major production then someone is getting the message from the consumer - IT’S OVER for this season.
“pro athletes threaten to alienate fans and crater their own industry.”
.
That ship sailed a long time ago.
.
They already have...who is going to travel into NYC to see a baseball game...
They have been living of TV and cable...
And ESPN is going broke along with Disney..
The 1998 Finals game between the Bulls and the Jazz rated a 22.3.
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