Adam Silver calls NBA a “highlight sport” while defending the prices

[Rekkapryde]

It's like Silver intentionally tries to kill the NBA

Tv contract locked up. His bosses the owners eating lovely. Players too. They all got their bread, they don’t care

 

[Dem313wayz]

He's right. It is a highlight sport. You got fans and people on here who probably think John Wall should be in the HOF cuz his highlights are crazy but he never accomplished shyt

 

[Big Boss]

 

[concise]

These heads of the various sporting associations really only care about growing the pockets of the few and marginalizing everyone else. Its just a shame that many fans are too institutionalised to protest on the rising prices with their wallets by not spending on the product in case they miss out on something.

We are essentially going backwards in society where it was only the rich who could afford to go out and do things like go to the theatres or nightclubs etc 100-125 years ago and in 2025 it looks like we've returned to that model.

One of the ways you really see it is in new stadium design. So many of these new buildings added so many extra luxury suites and "premium" seats, while general admission and plain cheap seats keep decreasing.

 

[King Poetic]

He not lying

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

I posted this in the other thread -

The further we head into the future, the less and less fans will watch full games, especially if the season remains at 82 games. There’s far too much entertainment at our disposal. Even mediums in which you once weren’t considered entertainment are now curated in that manner. Just look at what politics has become.

Highlights are essentially how casual fans (which make up almost the entirety of the fanbase) keep up with the NBA when they can’t or don’t want to watch games every night.

The NBA has always been a highlight sport (at least in the modern era), so I don’t see why anyone is taken aback from it being described as such. The very fact this board has primarily talked about a handful of players over the last 10+ years should tell you as such.

80%+ of fans consume the product through highlights and box scores. Only a small minority are watching full games on a nightly basis. And even they watch highlights of games they missed.

Playoffs are essentially the only stage when fans can check in and watch games in their entirety, when the games don’t all overlap and the number of them are drastically reduced.

It’s why hoops discourse is centered around moments during a game rather than a discussion about it as a whole. Did you see that dunk? Did you see x-player hit that turnaround to beat the buzzer? Did you see that full court pass?

Pretending the NBA has been anything but that is being disingenuous.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Sad state for the NBA. Most regular season nights I don't watch the games, I listen to NBA Radio on my daily drive and don't feel like I missed anything at all.

Why do y’all keep posting this bullshyt? The league is more popular than it’s ever been. Just because your old dusty ass doesn’t gravitate towards it like you used to means it’s in a “sad state”. The fact that you only consume NBA content when you commute to/from work would suggest to me you occupy your free time with other things.

There’s nothing the NBA can do that’ll ever get you back to watching it like you want to. I’d imagine you’ve got a family/kids, other priorities, play video games, watch movies/TV, post on social media etc where you’re not going to give up most of those things up for a sport where the generations of players are 10-20+ years your junior.

 

[Stop_It_5]

He's not wrong, those Ximo Pierto accounts would rack up millions of views posting highlights before the NBA got serious about their distribution in that lane.


Only people that should feel slighted by those comments are the networks/companies who locked into those new deals. He's pretty much saying it's spread thin and we know you can't watch it all but the bag is secured

 

[Optimus Prime]

They just got $77 Billion guarunteed.
Of course he's not worried about a few folks complaining.
NBA is making so much money that they have seem to have punted on expansion which was another guarunteed ~$12 Billion because the current owners down't want to split their share with another 2 teams.

 

[BlackMajik]

If David Stern came back as a zombie, I truly believe that he would delete Adam Silver

 

[T.he I.nformant]

Might be one of the worst things he’s said and a great showing of contempt for the game of basketball. I would argue that one of the great advantages of the NFL, and it’s evidenced in viewership, is its accessibility. I know every Sunday I can turn on my regular TV and see a game, sometimes two, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. NBA has made its product too exclusive.

 

[boskey]

Fireable comment

 

[Nero Christ]

These heads of the various sporting associations really only care about growing the pockets of the few and marginalizing everyone else. Its just a shame that many fans are too institutionalised to protest on the rising prices with their wallets by not spending on the product in case they miss out on something.

We are essentially going backwards in society where it was only the rich who could afford to go out and do things like go to the theatres or nightclubs etc 100-125 years ago and in 2025 it looks like we've returned to that model.

The new Gilded Age

 

[hitmonlee]

He not lying

 

[hitmonlee]

he ant lying

you can tell by the debates NBA stans have that 90% of them don’t actually watch games

Yup the people that are actually upset are the ones that don’t watch the games