Leslie

Hi Paulry! Thanks for asking that great question. You are a credit to this forum and we all are so grateful for your participation.

I'm sure you already know this because you are an expert on all things USA. Not everybody knows this but you are in the unique position of actually knowing 9 (count them! 9!) people who live here and (holy cow) 7 of those were actually born here. Phew. That's a lot of people. With that level of knowledge and experience, they should make you moderator of the USA forum. I haven't started counting yet but, man oh man, I doubt I can beat those numbers. You are top of the leader board.

Being an expert, you already know that the entire sports industry has lost money this year due to Covid, not BLM. And, with your PhD in USA Things-n-Shit, you also understand capitalism and corporate branding. The NBA brand has been lent to many worthy causes (Breast Cancer Awareness, My Brothers Keeper, Diabetes, Racial Equality, Mental Wellness, Autism Awareness, Special Olympics, YMCA, Hoops for Troops, Hoops for St Jude and many many more) and as with all awareness campaigns, they do not go on forever. The NBA doesn't hand their brand over FOREVER. They raise awareness, and money, and then they move on. Just like CocaCola, Nike, Amazon etc.

Thank you for bringing attention to the fantastic work that the NBA does. I'm only a 40+ year NBA obsessed fanatic so, of course, your superior knowledge and wisdom (9 people!) holds a lot more sway than mine. I bet your post was a rhetorical question because, of course, you know everything, you rascal. Keep up the good work buddy!

Giantaxe

I've really enjoyed watching the NBA playoffs. Some great games, including last night's Miami win. Jimmy Butler, omg...

The BLM "branding" was a one-off made possible by everyone being in the Orlando bubble. So as usual paulry's completely wrong. Plus, TV ratings are probably down - as I believe they are for almost all live sport - because without crowds something, unsurprisingly, is missing. The NBA "virtual" fan concept is pretty good, but realistically it's just not the same. The atmosphere generated by live crowds is extremely important to professional sports.

paulry

I suppose only time will tell. People are fickle and if they don't agree with the behavior of a club or company then they turn away from it - and take their money with them. But whatever, NBA have decided that in future they do not intend to so openly support BLM. It is of course possible that while support might have been high for BLM to begin with in the wake of GF's death, support waned as BLM turned violent, destroyed businesses, pulled down statues, etc. That plus more information about BLMs goals became known.

Giantaxe

Why are TV ratings down significantly in all major US sports?

paulry

Does it explain the decline in TV ratings? The answer to that question I believe is in this article that is easily found using a duckduckgo search: "BLM Protests Kill Ratings For Professional Sports Leagues" which claims that the NBA and MLB are starting down the same road as the NFL. A very relevant part of the text in that article starts and continues about half way down, where it says:

BristolUK

A possible answer was posted earlier too. A simple explanation that the matches with lower ratings than comparable ones previously were less competitive.

Rather like fewer people saw Manchester City's one sided FA Cup final against Watford (6-0) than Chelsea vs Arsenal the following season.

Lion in Winter

Would Jesus take a knee? Apparently, he would.

https://www.missioalliance.org/jesus...keaknee-issue/

Giantaxe

How "convenient" for paulry's agenda to blame all ratings declines on BLM. I hope paulry also has a logical explanation as to why Stanley Cup ratings more than halved. That's a sport that's about as white as you can get in terms of players and spectators, didn't embrace BLM and still saw large ratings declines.

Lion in Winter

Duckduckgo is just a search engine. Your text comes from here:

https://freedomwire.com/blm-protests-kill-ratings/

under the unsurprising subhead of "Woke Millionaires Pushing Marxist Agenda. "Freedom Wire" describes itself as "the #1 source for patriotic truth" and has the below on its home page.




Do you think they just might be one of those biased media sources you keep going on about?

Giantaxe

Ha! Never trust quoted text without the link where it comes from.

Lion in Winter

Normally I wouldn't bother, but sometimes things need to be shown up for what they are.

There are some really funny ideas in there, btw.

Leslie

I find it unwatchable without fans. When the MLB used cardboard cutouts, I started listening to a lot more music. I know a lot of people that still keep up with sports but I just can't do it.

Giantaxe

I've watched a lot of the NBA finals, a few Premier League games, and one NFL game. Can't summon up any more enthusiasm for the NFL though. Games with few or no fans in cavernous football stadia just don't cut it.

paulry

So why they all watering down their support of BLM then?

Giantaxe

Who is the "all" in this? You've already had it explained to you what the deal was/is with the NBA.