The Ratings talk is so disingenuous. The Ratings didn't tank this year, they dropped in 2020 and have never recovered.
In the 2010s the NBA finals used to average 17-18 million viewers with close-out games getting 20+ million views. However, since 2020 they are barely averaging 11 million viewers.
The reason for the drop is obvious but in 2020 no one in the legacy media wanted to to discuss the ratings because to discuss why back then would lead you to the obvious answer.
They want to make this a talking point five years later
It's not obvious at all.
If you're going to say it's politics: the NFL leaned waaaay harder left, course corrected way harder, and is doing better numbers than they were before.
If you're going to say it's because of the lack of superstar power: the amateur tournament is doing better numbers, and that's filled with a bunch of no names.
If you're going to say it's because of streaming: other leagues wouldn't be seeing numbers go up.
It's a combination of many things, but 2 things you don't see brought up very often in this thread:
why should fans care about a league where 2 enormous narratives are: tanking (teams don't care about winning/the value of games) and load management (players dont care abuot winning/the value of games.)
The NBA brand is absolutely toxic for viewership from October through May, and they're learning that fans aren't going to magically start to give a fukk when the playoffs start when there's no narrative runway leading into it.
