[Rankin] ... Kevin Durant continuing to address #NBA viewership being down. "I take this serious. I'm locked in as to why people don't want to watch us play."

https://x.com/DuaneRankin/status/1872176949801504956?t=sOlhzun3lYo5ImePn8Xpwg&s=19

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96% Upvoted

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u/Neemzeh Timberwolves 1d ago

The NBA has put itself into a box though, with player salaries, salary cap, expenses, etc. They basically have to use their existing models or the networks wont pay them as much. If they don't pay as much, they'll probably lose revenue. IDK tho, I'm sure someone with an economic background can explain more accessibility vs. networks paying and whether one will make more than the other. I'd imagine the NBA has crunched these numbers and still think its better for them financially to do it this way, viewership be damned.

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u/Skunk_Gunk [CLE] LeBron James 1d ago

The biggest thing that leagues don’t account for when going this route is that they are losing the next generation of fans by doing this. People rarely start to follow teams/leagues unless they grow up with it. The league needs to think about the next 20 years just not the next quarter, could say this about 90% of companies though to be fair.

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u/KevinDLasagna Timberwolves 1d ago

Really wouldn’t surprise me at all if soccer become more popular in the U.S. over the next 15-20 years. It’s becoming more and more popular every year and the nba is the opposite. And I’m talking premier league/champions league and international not MLS.

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u/ResidentRunner1 Pistons 1d ago

MLB might grow again too, I'm optimistic about the future of baseball

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u/Odinious 1d ago

Not a big Manfred fan but the pace of play rules that were enacted during his tenure make watching games on TV more manageable

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u/AllRushMixTapes 1d ago

Agreed. Much better product the last few years that way, but not sure if it can make up for the fact that half the owners could care less about fielding a competitive team because salaries just eat away at profits.

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u/KevinDLasagna Timberwolves 1d ago

I could see it. All I know is it ain’t gonna be hockey lol

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u/penguinkg Mavericks 1d ago

Hockey faces the same problem as the NBA lol

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u/KevinDLasagna Timberwolves 1d ago

It faces even more I feel like. Half the country it’s not even a high school sport, and outside of Russia, Canada and some Eastern European countries it has very little international appeal. Basketball is at least huge in countries like China and the Philippines, and that’s not changing anytime soon

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u/anotherdayinparodise Magic 1d ago

Hockey faces an insane amount of difficulty for future growth but I’m hopeful they can figure something out. I’ve gotten almost everyone I know into it in Orlando, but the Lightning going back to back certainly helped. Plus we have a minor league team in town with very cheap tickets and decent action.

The actual product, especially in the playoffs, is a 10/10 and is incredibly exciting to watch. The physicality, skill, competitiveness, drama, etc. are all off the charts. But it’s just not something people grow up playing like y’all said below.

It doesn’t help they’re in the same situation as the NBA with accessibility for local fans watching their favorite teams play.

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u/gumbygump11 Celtics 1d ago

I love baseball, but baseball will always have the expense barrier with gear, travel & tourney fees.

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u/Ayatori Toronto Huskies 1d ago

Had a lot more fun watching the playoffs/WS this year than any NBA playoffs since the Nuggets run and I've always been a basketball over baseball guy my entire life. Tension in every at bat is so insane in close playoff games, where I feel like even in NBA playoffs half the games are blowouts by the 1st half

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u/BMEngie 19h ago

Baseball ain’t growing till they fix a few things. I’m not sure what to do, but they’re in a similar boat to the NBA where the TV products/options aren’t good enough for casuals to tune in outside of October.

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u/_Puff_Puff_Pass 1d ago

Baseball doesn’t know how to market its stars. Or outright refuses. Ask the average person who Ohtani is. They have the same problem, if you don’t play baseball then you don’t watch and they are making it harder to watch a game without jumping through hoops.

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u/ansu_fatismo23 Rockets 1d ago

Actually it’s the opposite ohtani is extremely recognizable. My mum and dad who don’t watch any baseball know who ohtani is and even watched the world series with me to see how he does. i’m not from the US btw so the fact people know about ohtani is huge

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u/_Puff_Puff_Pass 1d ago

The viewership and endorsement numbers say otherwise. If you’re in an Asian country, makes sense though.

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u/ansu_fatismo23 Rockets 1d ago

I’m actually from a latin american country which doesn’t watch baseball much, so the fact that he gets recognized here is a good sign about the improvements on marketing by baseball