Posted on 11/12/2021 9:40:08 AM PST by NohSpinZone
Sports are back, certainly as a TV product. The NFL is up in the ratings over last season. The NBA, buoyed by a resurgent Warriors, improved Eastern Conference and avoidance of Thursday Night Football, is up over last season as well. So all is well, right?
Let’s just say there’s an issue, one that franchises are attempting to obscure. I’m looking at it through the prism of the NBA, because that’s the sport I’m obviously most familiar with, but this is a broader problem that could explode into a larger story.
Jacob Feldman of Sportico gives us a good look at the big picture:
In 2019, three NFL teams averaged less than 90% capacity. So far this year, seven teams are below that mark, according to ESPN’s count. In the NBA, half the league is currently averaging below 90%. The same is true for 15 NHL teams, triple the number from the 2018-2019 season.
And also this:
TicketManager CEO Tony Knopp said that in 2019, a scan rate around 70% was typical. Now, he’s seeing scan rates dip below 40% at times.
“That’s how we know demand is soft,” Knopp said. “A lot of the teams are playing the Aaron Rodgers game, like, I’m immunized, where they’re saying we distributed 16,000 tickets tonight, and 6,000 people showed.”
(Excerpt) Read more at houseofstrauss.substack.com ...
Notice he’s not talking about revenue.
Nuff said.
Flux the NBA. My eyeballs got better things to watch. Like the Autumn leaves rustling in the breezes.
None of that at our house any longer.
Demand people prove they’ve had their “vaccine” to enter the stadium and attendance is off. Who would have thought!!! The whole industry can go belly up if left to me. Frickin woketards.
When you consider that sports ratings HAVE NOT kept up with population increases, it has gone way, way down.
They brag about getting 9million viewers for an NBA game? Well that 9million has not changed much in 30 years. And they are including foreign viewers.
Wokism has killed sports.
Just attended a Pittsburgh Steelers game at Heinz Field. No such requirement for vaccine proof and no masking, even inside the stadium in enclosed areas. The NBA has a different policy by team, I think. I don’t know because I refuse to watch any pro basketball after they showed their true colors when it comes to China (red!)
That’s an excellent point. The teams will simply claim that their viewership has been divided among TV and the different streaming/online options.
I don’t/won’t watch professional sports unless and until I hear about them apologizing for disrespecting veterans and others.
And although I rooted for UK basketball for most of my 71 years, I won’t do so anymore because Calipari disrespected the flag and veterans last year.
After the NFL showed their true colors, you have no problem supporting that anti American garbage? Takes a helluva lot to offend you.
I almost wish I still watched the NFL so I could stop watching now and hurt their ratings again.
You don’t see people wearing team gear outside of games.
Anecdotal, but here in the Tampa Bay area, we have the Super Bowl champs, and we have Tom Brady, but when I do a quick check on the TV there are lots of empty seats at the home games, and I can assure the reader that COVID is not an issue here. (Neither is transportation, the football stadium is very easy to get to, unlike the Trop for the MLB Rays.)
Best to pick your favorite activities, then DO them.
Less people paying to attend Pro Sports …Big school College Football & the few NCCA Basketball games so far are packed houses..Tells me the Pros are the problem..prices, activism, No attendance for me..a former Yankee season ticket holder..
DITTO THAT! I remembered they opened w/ Duke & checked. They lost.
Too bad. So sad.
“...but I think he missed the impact that all the BLM and LGBT-whatever virtue signaling has on declining interest in sports. It’s not all COVID.”
Very true.
The reporter is signaling his WOKEness by commenting on Aaron Rodgers not being vaccinated.
The NBA lacks diversity, equity and inclusion and should be boycotted.
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