Did you
watch the National Basketball Association’s finals last Sunday night? I didn’t
either….and according to television ratings…very few watched it nationwide.
Despite
having the league’s most notable player---LeBron James---and the second biggest
television market in the country---the championship game was only viewed by 5.6
million fans. By comparison, a regular season NFL football telecast between
Minnesota and Seattle drew 11.4 million viewers.
What
happened?
Well it is
pretty easy to speculate that the league’s decision to go political turned off
a large number of people. There was political stuff on the court and on each
player’s jerseys. I’m not here to cast stones at Black Lives Matter…but it is
obvious that sports fans like their entertainment to be free of the conflict
generated by extensive messaging.
Further, the
NBA is obviously in bed with the Communist Chinese government. You know, the
same place where the pandemic was born? You won’t hear that from owners or
players who hope to make a billion or so Chinese into professional basketball
fans.
You put
those things together and maybe you’ll find the same thing that happened to the
NFL when players started taking a knee happening to the basketball ratings.
The message
is clear. Play basketball. Entertain us. Try to hit me over the head with a
social issue, and I’ll likely flip the channel.
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