Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd has claimed the NBA and the Democrat party share an issue when it comes to losing supporters.
Despite signing a 11-year, $76 billion TV deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon this summer, the NBA’s ratings have taken a severe hit over the past decade with figures plummeting even further this season.
The league’s ratings have taken a 48 percent drop over the last 12 years, and this year alone they are down 28 percent on ESPN, according to Front Office Sports.
Many fans and analysts have pointed to load management as a source of blame but while Cowherd agreed in part, he suggested there was an added factor behind the reasoning – and it’s to do with the American people.
‘The NBA ratings are down 48 percent in the last 12 years and they have fallen off a cliff this year and Adam Silver’s solution is let’s make the courts brighter,’ he began on his FS1 show, ‘The Herd.’
‘I like the NBA but I think the All-Star game is now embarrassing. Load management is a shame on the league. It is a really bad look for a family of four to go to a game and the [stars] don’t play.
The NBA’s ratings have plummeted in recent seasons, taking a 48 percent drop over the last 12
Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd (left) claimed the league shares an issue with the Democratic party (pictured right Kamala Harris)
‘Go ask the Democrats. Be warned, once you detach from regular people in America, you will pay a price.’
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, of course, went on to suffer a landslide defeat to Donald Trump when the American people took to the polls on November 5.
Harris had branded herself as a forward-thinking leadership who could work across the aisle to address the American people’s concerns, such as the cost of living.
However, she underperformed in key demographics such as the black and Latino votes.
Meanwhile, in the NBA, ‘load management,’ a trend popularized by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich in 2010s, sees teams rest their stars during the regular season to keep them fresh for the playoffs.
Before the start of the season, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he planned on never playing the second game of consecutive nights. Meanwhile, other NBA stars such as Kawhi Leonard, have routinely sat out games despite being healthy.
While the league has tried to combat the trend by adding games-played incentives to contracts and barring players who haven’t played enough games from being eligible for major awards, it has sent a message to fans that the NBA and its players don’t care about the regular season.
It comes as a blow to fans, especially those who fork out as much as $140 only to see their favorite players ride the bench.
Cowherd went on to liken the NBA to the NFL, highlighting the elements Commissioner Roger Goodell has successfully navigated in recent years in order to prosper in comparison to the floundering basketball league.
‘[The NFL] has got a connectability to the American Midwest and the regular people. If you look at the markets that are winning in his league, tiny Baltimore, Buffalo, Green Bay, Kansas City… connectability,’ he added.
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