r/nba NBA 1d ago

The NBA delivered its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, with viewership up 84% vs. last year across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+.

The NBA on Christmas Day averaged 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. The matchup between the Lakers and Warriors – the most-watched NBA regular season and Christmas Day game in five years – averaged 7.76 million viewers and peaked with 8.32 million viewers.

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u/rompskee Cavaliers 1d ago

Games being good + ABC > games not being good on streaming service

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u/NIN10DOXD Hornets 1d ago

They'd be fine if the streaming service was something mainstream like Hulu or Disney+ in addition to ABC instead of League Pass. More people will already be subscribed to one of the mainstream streaming services.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

Yeah if all ESPN NBA games were just on Disney+ the same way they are with Max, a lot more people would watch. More viewers leads to a healthier product thanks to stuff like merch sales, probably would make up for the money they’d lose putting it on the services

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u/Exotic-Emergency-226 1d ago

Yeah pretty much the only games I don’t pirate…are the Max ones because I’m already subscribed. If they were on Disney plus it’d be the same

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u/ArKadeFlre Lakers 1d ago edited 1d ago

Merch sale is at an all time high and has only been growing year after year. The difficulty to watch games legally is not really an issue for anyone other than those TV contractors. Whether you watch the games legally or illegally, the interaction with the product is still the same. You watch the ads and you buy the merch.

This article puts it greatly:

The entire NBA television ratings discussion has happened chiefly outside league circles and is usually more clickbait than an honest assessment. The discussion often starts with a faulty premise, talking about traditional television ratings — based on people sitting down in front of a screen and watching a game — and suggesting it's an accurate measure of the health of a sport or an accurate gauge of its popularity and impact. Watching games that way is not how most of the NBA's younger-than-football (or baseball, or hockey) core demographic consume any media. Most of the people leaning on old-school ratings are comparing the NBA to the NFL, and they come to the discussion with an agenda (often political or cultural

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u/Scrimps Raptors 21h ago

"I would rather let one person watch the game for $100, then 99 for $1". Is what an NBA executive said on CNBC Business podcast two years ago.

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u/Oceanbreeze871 Celtics 1d ago

Hulu got raised to $100/mo for streaming. Makes it harder to justify live tv

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u/dirtyshits Warriors 1d ago

Lol hulu was built to replace cable and they seem to be right on track.

Got rid of traditional cable companies to become them.

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u/Oceanbreeze871 Celtics 1d ago

Yup. Couple of uses ago it was like $35 bucks

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u/dirtyshits Warriors 1d ago

Hook you in then drain the account.

I haven’t paid for a single service in 3 years except when they have the crazy deals.

Everything I watch is on the 7 seas. Easy when you don’t have a family because I know how to find my content.

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u/OddAbbreviations5749 1d ago

Meanwhile how many people discovered the first 4 Indiana Jones movies are off of D+ indefinitely for the foreseeable future? The promise of permanent access to beloved classics via a single service is already fracturing.

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u/NIN10DOXD Hornets 1d ago

I meant just regular Hulu rather than Hulu live.

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u/Spiritual_Wall_2309 1d ago

I can watch ABC through air antenna. But this year all 5 games are available on Disney+. Easy access is the key.

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u/romanNood1es 1d ago

The games being on Disney Plus was a nice surprise for me.

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u/GorillaX Thunder 1d ago

Wait, they were?? Gdi, here I am pirating shit I already pay for and don't know it 🤦

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u/Clemario 1d ago edited 14h ago

I just opened Disney+ yesterday to find something to play on TV while I had relatives over for Christmas Day. We all ended up watching 3 NBA games and everyone stuck around til the end of Lakers-Warriors.

Very relieved that didn’t go to OT, I wanted everyone to go home already.

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u/superhappyfuntime13 Rockets 1d ago

As a Texans fan, I can also say you’re welcome to the NBA for somehow making the second NFL game even more boring than the first.

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u/SnacksGPT Supersonics 1d ago

Mostly just the ABC part. The vast majority of viewers are regular-ass cable subscribers, not redditors or journalists.

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u/Scrimps Raptors 21h ago

KC Vs Ravens peaked at 65 million viewers, and the NFL averaged 27 million on their Christmas day games.

NBA got destroyed.

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u/CommonerChaos Pacers 16h ago

The crazy part is, it was the best case scenario for the NBA too, as the NFL games sucked and the NBA games were great. Even still, the NBA ratings got destroyed.

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u/KNlCKS Knicks 1d ago

Knicks vs Wemby was pretty entertaining, had the whole house watching even the non ball fans

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u/BUTTFUCKER__3000 Spurs 1d ago

NBA has got to push Wemby hard, capitalize on any rivalries that start to emerge. Also really curious as to how streaming will work next year, as anything is better than the current filth.

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u/Plenty_Flatworm7627 Wizards 1d ago

the fact that the thunder are the best team in the west right now and chet and wemby genuinely do not like each other is gonna make for an amazing rivalry in the future

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u/UnsuspectingS1ut Bucks 1d ago

With Edey’s persona and similar height but massive build I could see that being an underrated hate matchup

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u/TedTran2001 1d ago

Grizzlies and Spurs are divisional rivals. Ready made as it gets boys.

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u/Naive-Air2866 1d ago

What were the non ball fan’s opinions on Wemby?

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u/Saucy_Totchie Knicks 1d ago

For me it was a lot of "wait how tall is he?"

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u/Sunglasses_Soldier 1d ago

Felt like yesterday was his coming out party to the casual fans

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u/lp_phnx327 Lakers 1d ago

"He's way past 7 feet tall" - KAT

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u/Zoulogist Lakers 1d ago

The San Antonio Wembys

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u/okgusto Knicks 1d ago

But what's the ratings for the goofy game? That's what I wanna know, my kids want more of this

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u/ArKadeFlre Lakers 1d ago

Most watched Christmas opening game in 13 years apparently

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u/gellybelli Mavericks 1d ago

They put it on ESPN+ and allowed easier viewing. Make it easy to watch and the people will come.

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u/ChiefTitan808 1d ago

there is no reason every ESPN game should not be on ESPN+

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u/pezasied Pacers 1d ago

Unfortunately I would imagine cable companies would throw a fit.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

This is why Disney and WBD have formed an alliance against Comcast NBC Universal. It’s basically the legacy cable companies vs. the other studios.

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u/derrickwhitepower San Diego Clippers 1d ago

Disney and WBD have a ton of legacy cable networks what are you talking about

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

I’m talking about cable providers like Comcast, not cable networks. Comcast has to pay Disney and WBD to get channels like ESPN and TNT on their service, which leads to them fighting over how much the carriage fees are.

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u/sunshinebusride [DAL] Dirk Nowitzki 1d ago

I'm still pissed the zeppelin industry just rolled over for big Aeroplane

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u/pezasied Pacers 1d ago

You have one Hindenburg disaster and suddenly no one wants to ride in your blimp…

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u/Zoulogist Lakers 1d ago

That’s what she said

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u/LongTimesGoodTimes 1d ago

Yeah, it makes sense for the consumer but when you consider that ESPN gets a so much from cable providers. ESPN's carriage fee is like 10 dollars a plan

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u/PepeSylvia11 Celtics 1d ago

Yup. And it’s exactly why ESPN and others tried to distance themselves from cable. Cable needs sports, but sports don’t need cable. ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros tried to create a service called Venu, but it was blocked.

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u/astanton1862 Spurs 1d ago

You've got that backwards. Disney loved getting that $10 a month from my Mom who only has cable to get her Fox News and CNN.

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u/captain_ahabb Lakers 1d ago

ESPN has treated the cable companies like dogshit for 30 years

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u/ukfan758 Bucks 1d ago

I've never understood how people are so gullible siding with the networks like ESPN during cable provider/network negotiations. It is literally the only time those awful cable companies are doing you a favor. If it stays the same, you only pay Spectrum/Comcast's absurd annual rate increase. If Spectrum has to pay more for ESPN, you're paying the rate increase and footing the bill of the new ESPN agreement.

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u/neuroticsmurf Celtics 1d ago

I would get ESPN+ in a heartbeat if it included all ESPN NBA games.

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u/jackaholicus Mavericks 1d ago

Well, yeah. That's the problem. Then nobody would pay for ESPN.

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u/WeveGot Hawks 1d ago

It’s great but I pray to any god out there that they add ESPN Classics stuff. “Whoses Number #1”, “Stump the Schwab”, their SportsCentury videos on athletes from different sports are all fantastic and there is so much missing.

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u/Uncle_Freddy [SAS] El Contusione 1d ago

At an absolute minimum they should have every ABC game on ESPN+, those games are literally free over air

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u/glumbum2 1d ago

There really is no reason you shouldn't be able to buy a package that lets you at least watch all 82 games for "your" team, and then expanded up to the point where you can watch all 1230 games (all 30 teams) via vod if you wanted. We know that they already have this ability and teams can get film on any game... Why not offer it as a premium product to the public? They have the viewer base and I think the money is there to support it easily.

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u/lets_talk_basketball 1d ago

It legit makes 0 sense.. At least have it on Disney+ since they're owned by them too

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u/ChiefTitan808 1d ago

i feel stupid paying for league pass and ESPN+ and i still cant watch the games either way

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u/zeezee2k Knicks 1d ago

I have league pass + max to watch most Knicks game but had to get sling to watch the ESPN games. It's significantly more expensive than the other services.

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u/The_Briefcase_Wanker Nuggets 1d ago

Just set up a tablet or laptop connected to your tv for pirate streaming the sling games. It’s not as good but it’s good enough to deal with 5-10 times a season.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

I’m glad they finally merged the 3 Disney streaming services into one app, only took them 5 years lol. You still have to pay more to bundle Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ but at least you can watch it all in one place now.

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u/lets_talk_basketball 1d ago

It's kinda baffling how idiotic this enormous companies can be.. I work for 1 of the bigger banks and my coworkers and I are always making fun of us for using Excel spreadsheets for all of our financials. Meanwhile a small startup will be using relational databases.

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u/jknuts1377 Celtics 1d ago

Yeah, I made the mistake of paying for a year of ESPN+ without realizing I can't watch games that are on ESPN or ESPN2, so I went ahead and canceled it a year later since I had no reason to use it. If it didn't have the 30 for 30 documentaries, I wouldn't have used it at all really.

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u/raptorsthrowaway4 1d ago

ESPN is more expensive (and probably proftable) than ESPN+. Better for owners wallets.

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u/TheBrownBaron 1d ago

Cnbc/Peacock and netflix hiring goons to break your legs

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u/FireFoxQuattro Heat 20h ago

I was about to buy espn + like a year ago until I saw it included everything BUT ESPN. Like that’s the whole fucking reason I wanted it, I don’t care about 30 for 30 and some random division 2 team playing on a Tuesday night, I want prime time hoops.

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u/HenrikCrown Pelicans 1d ago

All the games were on ABC too

Usually the night slate gets regulated to just ESPN 

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u/johnny____utah Pacers 1d ago

Yeah I thought I was in for some local news and was pleasantly surprised by more basketball.

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u/Nugur 1d ago

ABC is actually easier than espn+

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u/gellybelli Mavericks 1d ago

All of the abc college football games until the playoffs were on + and it was fucking awesome this year.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

This is the best balance. Provide an OTA option on ABC so everyone can watch for free and provide that same content on a cheap streaming service so people who want to watch on their phone have an option to do so.

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u/ObviousAnswerGuy [NYK] John Starks 1d ago

it was on ABC, ESPN+ is not the reason for the viewing bump lol

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u/biggoldgoblin 1d ago

Last year was also on ESPN+

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u/HogofWar8 Warriors 1d ago

It's beyond me why I pay for ESPN+ and Warriors League Pass and I still can't watch all Warriors games. No wonder viewership is down, mfs got me jumping through hoops(pun intended).

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u/gellybelli Mavericks 1d ago

It’s essentially free for me bc I had Disney and Hulu no ads already, but it annoys the hell out of me how little they use it for things I actually want to watch

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u/cloudy_ft 1d ago

It's crazy to think without all these blackout restrictions and issues with watching local games even with league pass... PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY WATCH GAMES.

Ever since they make it hard to watch local games without having 2-3 different subscriptions I know a LOT of people who decide to just find streams online or just not watch games in general.

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u/whereyagonnago Cavaliers 1d ago

Conversely, I was at my parents house for Christmas and couldn’t watch the NFL games thanks to Netflix’s impossibly stupid password sharing rules. Couldn’t even get a temporary code or anything, and couldn’t watch on my phone and stream to the TV…

So we put on the NBA games in the background.

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u/Productpusher 1d ago

And they synced espn into Disney app seamlessly .

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u/roachsmoke NBA 1d ago

Yup I watched the whole day on ABC, I didn't need to bootleg the stream online. It was really nice watching it on the TV without mirroring from the phone or the buffering from the stream

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u/LothCatPerson Rockets 19h ago

This is why I don’t get people who want to actually change the product(shorten games/shorten the season). The problem isn’t the product, it’s the accessibility to the product.

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u/gellybelli Mavericks 18h ago

EXACTLY. It’s the equivalent of someone going to the doctor and poking their body everywhere and saying it hurts every time they poke, but they have a broken finger. It’s an easy solution with a complicated mechanism of fixing it due to some bullshit TV stuff that has been engrained for ages.

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u/According_Smoke_479 Celtics 1d ago

I for one am absolutely shocked that easier accessibility means more viewership /s

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u/JayDee62 [LAL] Kobe Bryant 1d ago

Yep. Where I was we watched all of it on there. But coming in I thought it was strange they were on ESPN+ because they basically never use that.

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u/cepxico Warriors 16h ago

People continually show that they'll pay for convenience and companies continually show they'll ignore that and make shit obtuse and fucking annoying.

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u/RGVHound Spurs 10h ago

The NBA will learn nothing from this.

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u/ripmeleedair Celtics 1d ago

I couldnt watch it because I use a roku stick. It wasn't on the ESPN app (not sure why), only ABC and ESPN+. I don't pay for ESPN+, but I get ABC, so no big deal. However, ABC recently shut down their streaming app. The only way to stream it through ABC was with a Hulu account that gets live sports, which I also don't have. So even though I should have ESPN and ABC, I couldn't live stream the game.

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u/MindofShadow Pacers 1d ago

Get bunny ears man, ABC is free with antenna

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u/cmackchase 1d ago

For most people, some of us have mountains that block our local ABC station.

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u/jgroove_LA 1d ago

it was on Disney+

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u/_ATCQ_ Heat 1d ago

it was on the ESPN app it just wasn't free. You either needed to authenticate using your cable login or use your ESPN+ login details to get access but it was on the ESPN app.

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u/Chad442553 Knicks 1d ago

Good job NBA you figured out making the games easier to watch makes people watch them, incredible.

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u/lets_talk_basketball 1d ago

Yup.. competitive games that are easily accessible=high ratings.

what a concept

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u/Chad442553 Knicks 1d ago

I know a truly novel concept

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u/NoShape0 Spurs 1d ago

Games being competitive is never a guarantee though, unless influenced by some timely ref calls...

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u/therich Lakers 1d ago

I could use a little fuel myself

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u/s4ntana [TOR] Tracy McGrady 1d ago

dude thinks "competitive games" is some secret strategy you can plan for

As if good teams don't get blown out regularly in the season (and even post-season)

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u/Snuggle__Monster Knicks 1d ago

Now we need to get Silver in a room with Manfred.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

Baseball has that figured out actually, in a couple of years when the existing RSN contracts expire, baseball is going to eliminate regional blackouts. They’re going to beat the NBA to the punch on it. It’s already set up, they just need to let a few more local deals expire and they can do it.

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u/captain_ahabb Lakers 1d ago

12 RSN contracts don't expire until the 2030s so idk why you think this is going to happen in "a couple of years". Yankees and Phillies RSN contracts don't expire until the 2040s.

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u/Metfan722 Knicks Tankwagon 1d ago

It's the ones that were under Bally and Root Sports that are going to be made available. SNY, Sportsnet, the local NBC sportsnet channels, NESN, and YES are all actually making money for their respective teams. Teams are hesitant to give up a big money maker for them.

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u/Chad442553 Knicks 1d ago

This, the Yankees RSN contract for the MLB is a disaster and they can do jack all about it.

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u/aaronrodgersmom Bucks 1d ago

They could get rid of the Yankees

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u/Chad442553 Knicks 1d ago

Whatever you think of Silver, Manfred is 10x more stupid.

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u/CelinedionWaiters [SEA] Vladimir Radmanovic 1d ago

This is facts. At least Silver still calls it the Larry O’Brien trophy instead of a hunk of metal

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u/Chad442553 Knicks 1d ago

Manfred’s ability to fuck things up is incredible, I would half expect him to change the championship trophy into a giant golden bat and call it the golden championship.

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u/SiphenPrax Knicks 1d ago

He is easily the worst commissioner of the four major sports bar none no if MLB surpasses the NBA in the ratings in certain aspects.

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u/costanzathegreat Warriors 1d ago

This is why Amazon will ultimately be good for the NBA

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u/Icy_Possibility9631 1d ago

I never gave af about tv deals until this last one cuz of how much I think the coverage of basketball has declined. I’m actually really excited to see what NBC and Amazon do

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u/noknownothing 1d ago edited 1d ago

It has nothing to do that it was the Knick, Celtics v sixers, last year's wc finalists, and lakers v warriors. It could've been any teams and people would've watched if it was available and competitive. They picked the right teams.

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u/hloupaopica 1d ago

lmao official NBA account is po¨sting ratings

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u/RZAAMRIINF Raptors 1d ago

Adam Silver: “Ratings are fine, find a new slant”

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u/PabloSanchezBB 1d ago

That's when I know the NBA is in trouble

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u/agentb719 Spurs 1d ago

gotta pat themselves on the back

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u/jabronified 1d ago

to be fair, the entire dialogue about the NBA on pretty much every sports show and forum has been about poor ratings and not actual games/players for like the last month+, even overshadowing th e IST. many were dancing on their graves at the impending "doom" of the NFL taking Christmas. makes sense they'd want to combat/change the narrative

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u/JellicoAlpha_3_1 Grizzlies 1d ago

Imagine that

If you actually put games on cable television...giving people access to watch them, they actually watch the games

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u/jgroove_LA 1d ago

...and broadcast television which is part of the NBA's new deal, Amazon, yes, but more broadcast

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u/Brb_32 NBA 1d ago

Old heads still move the needle.

Silvers really brought out the big guns yesterday.

Wemby is the future.

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u/hollow-ataraxia 1d ago

Bron vs Curry means something to more than one generation of NBA fans, I'm not surprised.

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u/costanzathegreat Warriors 1d ago

They are the best players of the past 20 years, it’s no surprise we got multiple generations wanting to watch them go at it

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u/human1023 Supersonics 1d ago

It's a good short term investment. But if they wanted a long term investment, they should have hyped up younger players more, instead of constantly televising only the same 2 teams.

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u/ewokninja123 1d ago

You mean like Wemby, Ant and Maxey?

Every other ad was Ant selling sprite.

Lebron and Curry was the cherry on top.

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u/human1023 Supersonics 1d ago

The way Ant was presented was great. I wish they did that for other players on other teams.

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u/ewokninja123 1d ago

That ould have been Ja but he couldn't leave the guns alone. Maybe a solid playoff run might turn things around for him, he has the charisma

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u/Gekthegecko [BOS] John Havlicek 1d ago

Zion would be there too if he were healthy. Being in a bigger market would help both those guys, but you can't be a face of the league unless you're out there playing great 70 games a season and consistently making the playoffs.

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u/nick22tamu Rockets 1d ago

Bigger market has nothing to do with it. LeBron spent most of his career in Cleveland, and the biggest American athlete under 30 plays in Kansas City.

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u/Public-Product-1503 1d ago

Almost like Ant himself has the charisma n It factor n it isn’t just given to him. You can’t force folk to find someone charismatic n appealing - see Tatum

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u/BadAtNameslmao Warriors 1d ago

The younger American players will never reach the iconic level of curry/lebron/KD. Most causals don’t care about non American players

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u/ThinkThankThonk Lakers 1d ago

If Bron and Curry didn't win their most recent chips I think Luka and Giannis would have been boosted way more the past few years. Tatums been kinda minimized too.

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u/Public-Product-1503 1d ago

It has little to do with that n this sub is so stupid in thinking like this .

If they don’t televise Bron n Steph they’ll still have loads of folk interested .

Most of the younger stars just aren’t ‘IT’ they lack the charisma , flash and personalities to be rooted for and against or even the dominance. They also constantly show they do not care about promoting the sport or the nba and are happy to take a cheque n get on with life ; good for them this sub jerks them off for it- see jokic . But this harms the amount of engagement you generate of the best player in the world gets this image of not caring or not being passionate or not promoting . It’s not just jokic tho , or his play style n being a big that makes this happen . Giannis, shai , Tatum etc etc all lack that collection of traits that made Steph kd n Bron so magnetic . Of the young guys, Zion , Ja , and Ant are probably the guys who have the right traits but they just aren’t at the level needed or made mistakes etc. look how big Ant got n Ja without even reaching mvp level . Or lamelo .

You can love jokic but his personality and play style and being a big means he’s never gonna appeal to the widest crowd drawing attention and he likes it that way. It’s the same with shai , Tatum is boring as dirt and Luka isn’t exactly the guy to be the face either .

Wemby maybe close but imo the fact he’s 7,6 with an 8ft wingspan makes me hesitant to see him as the face of the nba. I just don’t know if big men can really be the face but he’s closest .

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

It was a great call to have the two big games featuring the old heads happen after the NFL games were over. I think a lot of people who didn’t watch the early games flipped over to watch LeBron vs. Steph on ABC after the NFL games ended. They timed it perfectly. Then had KD vs. Jokic start immediately after that game to keep as much of the audience as they could.

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u/Acceptablepops Mavericks 1d ago

Great schedule to be honest , Refs should swallow the whistle more

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u/Jiklim Knicks Tankwagon 1d ago

Didn’t we learn this lesson last season? It got so much better after all star break

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u/Not-a-bot-10 76ers 1d ago

I switched to the NBA when the ravens Texans game was clearly an early stinker before passing out from Christmas dinner. Your welcome for the viewership boost

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u/H-TownDown [HOU] James Harden 1d ago

I switched back to the NBA because Christmas is not the day to be depressed about your playoff-bound garbage pile of a football team.

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u/Acceptablepops Mavericks 1d ago

Great schedule to be honest

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u/executivesphere NBA 1d ago

Refs should swallow the whistle more

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u/Midnight_Oil_ Bucks 1d ago

Unc still got it

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u/hollow-ataraxia 1d ago

Making the games easier to watch and platforming marquee stars is the key.

The other part that the NBA needs to do is to make people more aware of the new generation of stars - fans deserve to know about Paolo Banchero, Alperen Sengun, etc. Hell, the Cavs are on track for an unreal winning season and I barely see anything in the media or through official channels about Mitchell, Mobley or Garland.

When people know that there are exciting young star players in Cleveland, Orlando, Detroit, Houston, Indiana, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc., you can attract more viewership to the game as the marquee stars fade. It won't be the same as Bron/Steph/KD, but it doesn't have to be.

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u/johnny____utah Pacers 1d ago

They also need to promote emerging or established rivalries instead of solely relying on stars.

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u/A-Centrifugal-Force 1d ago

Every single Wemby vs. OKC game needs to be nationally televised. That’s the best emerging rivalry in the league and they need to put it everywhere

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u/Less-Tax5637 Timberwolves 1d ago

Not up to date on OKC’s injuries right now, but when/if Chet is back the games are gonna pop off hard. Wemby the Alien vs Abe Lincoln is good tv even if you don’t know a thing about basketball

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u/john_454 Thunder 1d ago

It's crazy to me how OKC and the Cavs didn't feature on Christmas day so many good match ups!

Thunder vs Mavs rematch

Cavs vs Celtics

Just to name two incredible match ups. Christmas day games should be announced at the start of December.

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u/hollow-ataraxia 1d ago

I think OKC topping the West two years in a row will make it impossible to ignore them next Christmas, same with Memphis being back at full strength. Wouldn't be shocked to see next year's Christmas games include both those teams, with OKC's matchup probably being against the Spurs to sell Wemby vs Chet

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u/International-Chef33 Celtics 1d ago

OKC was wild to me to not have included since they were the wests 1 seed with a rising star, young core, and only got better.

I understand the Cavs being left off, I don’t think anyone was predicting the start that they’ve had when the schedule was announced

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u/john_454 Thunder 1d ago

The NBA is terrible at marketing teams and stars. SGA is cool, into fashion, a great family man and a great role model and from North America .... Why not market him as a star it makes no sense

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u/cleaninfresno Mavericks 1d ago

i can’t even beat the karma race to post big news anymore when Adam got the official account posting it lmao

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u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT Mavericks 1d ago

Do not fret for there are other ways to earn karma.

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u/DiscreteBee Raptors 1d ago

Cool lets stop talking about ratings for a while now

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u/fueelin Celtics 1d ago

I sure hope we can. It's been getting so tiring at this point. Makes me not want to go on the sub/listen to podcasts/whatever when it feels like that's the only topic.

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u/Extreme-Site-8496 Lakers 1d ago

Good job Mr silver

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u/Intelligent_Virus_85 1d ago

Almost like there were more ways to be able to watch the game allowed for more viewership.. crazy

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u/ADriftingMind 1d ago

Make viewing games easier and you’ll bring people back in.

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u/sanfranchristo 1d ago

Only 2/5 were on ABC last year and they weren't on E+ or D+. Makes sense that making it easier (and free) to watch will increase the ratings to some extent.

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u/NotMarkDaigneault Thunder 1d ago

I hate to say it but I really enjoyed the Lakers vs Warriors game. The last couple minutes was pure cinema. Clutch Steph Curry was making insane shots and I thought they were gonna win by a hair at the end. Great game!

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u/UltraMoglog64 Timberwolves 1d ago

Wemby vs. New York

Luka vs. Ant WCF rematch

Boston / Philly spite match

Bron vs. Curry

KD vs. Jokic

The ease of viewing access is obviously a massive reason for the increase, but let’s not sleep on what a great job they did with the scheduling. Those are some marquee matchups.

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u/WalnutsPaulie 1d ago

Goofy is a draw brother 

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u/smileysmiley123 1d ago

For real. I want all NBA games to have their Disneyfied equivalent available for streaming.

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u/Saucy_Totchie Knicks 1d ago

People DO want to watch games. It's just not always that easily accessible.

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u/EsotericPotato Timberwolves 1d ago

The Naz Reid effect

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u/QueAsc0 Knicks 1d ago

Ngl Disney+ was clutch watching all the games in a BnB. Imagine if every NBA game was in Prime or something

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u/Illustrious-Hand3715 Knicks 1d ago

NFL games were blow outs. NBA has better games yesterday.

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u/Zeckzeckzeck 19h ago

Yes, but they also drew 5 times the ratings. This is great news for the NBA but they're not in the NFL's league and I have no idea why people think they can compete.

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u/Thami15 Heat 1d ago

That's strange. Were people told there would only be mid-range jumpers this Christmas? Why would people watch during a cost of 3 pointers crisis??

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u/fueelin Celtics 1d ago

Surely all of the evil teams that emphasize 3 pointers like the Warriors and Celtics must not have played yesterday??

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u/moneyinthebank216 Cavaliers 1d ago

Adam Silver “I want you to put the word out there that we back up”

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u/CabbageStockExchange Lakers 1d ago

Figures. I mean just to start. Make this damn sport easier to watch and more casual fans will tune in. Start there and figure the rest out later

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u/BanUrzasTower [SAC] Mike Bibby 1d ago

Honestly I felt like Christmas was the first day this year that I had time + an excuse to sit on the couch and watch a ton of basketball. It was really nice. This year was such a fucking grind, I wonder how many other people just didn't have time during the evenings anymore even though they still like basketball.

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u/Op3rat0rr Lakers 23h ago

I think what the media isn't considering is that people seem to be working a lot more now. It also seems like a lot more households have two full time workers instead of just one, which means that there's less free time because chores/appointments still have to be done. Also less people work from home now

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u/Zoobal Mavericks 1d ago

Literally watched because it was on ESPN+ and I didnt have to deal with pirate streams.

Make your content more accessible and people will watch!

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u/geneticeffects Mavericks 19h ago

I watched it because it was free on ABC.

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u/isit65outsideor Lakers 1d ago

LeBron and Curry is still must watch basketball in 2024. Appreciate it while we have it.

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u/Damuhfudon 1d ago

In Lebron we trust

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u/TrvpDrugs Wizards 1d ago

Games were on ABC and ESPN, made them easy to watch during Xmas. Now do the same for all the games NBA

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u/stinkydiaperuhoh 1d ago

Couldnt watch any of the games on the league pass lol

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u/skopij Lakers 1d ago

I watched them on League Pass...?

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u/stinkydiaperuhoh 1d ago

Odd, i got an error that they were only available on espn/disney/tnt so I couldnt watch them at all

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u/skopij Lakers 1d ago

Oh, sorry, I live in Switzerland, so that might have something to do with that.... I did not realize there is a difference. Kind of strange and sad that you pay for the service of League Pass and cannot watch the games. :(

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u/jackaholicus Mavericks 1d ago

Do you live outside of America?

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u/Hokuto_Nanto_Seiken 1d ago

The games were all close and competitive. I also appreciate the midrange games of Jokic, Murray, Durant, Bridges etc. The midrange will always be more entertaining than long range shots no matter if long range shots are more valuable.

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u/SandyMandy17 Thunder 1d ago

If I check what I have and it’s not there I’m immediately going to 🏴‍☠️ the game

Advertising still gets their ads.

The view is there it just doesn’t count

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u/Benjamminmiller Celtics 1d ago

I pay for services and I still pirate 90% of the time. Figuring out where to watch is far more effort than just putting on a stream.

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u/BUTTFUCKER__3000 Spurs 1d ago

Breaking news: more people watch games when it’s more readily available. Silver reportedly furious that such a thing was allowed to slip thru the cracks.

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u/riddleda Clippers 1d ago

Let's not forget that NFL games were put behind an app and a paywall they hadn't been before. This was always going to be easy for the NBA to get viewers.

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u/reddogrjw Pistons 1d ago

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u/riddleda Clippers 1d ago

And what would it have been if NFL was on abc, cbs, or fox like usual?

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u/reddogrjw Pistons 1d ago

29M

there is a post in the NFL sub on it, but when I linked it here I got a deletion notification from a mod

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u/Knightmere1 1d ago

Locking the NFL games to netflix certainly helped.

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u/AveMaria89 17h ago

The NFL games still had 24m

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u/Verumsemper 1d ago

The interest in the NBA is the highest it has ever been but the NBA makes it hard actually watch all the games and I have league pass!!

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u/dBlock845 Knicks 1d ago

It helps that almost all of the games were good (was cooked by the time the Nuggets/Suns came on).

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u/bbj123 1d ago

And yet when warriors and lakers get another Christmas Day game next year people will complain here and say no one wants to watch them

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u/lodeddiper961 1d ago

makes sense cause all 5 games were on ABC nationally which is accessible with an antenna for free, no bs paywall. i still pirated tho cause antennas dont work in my area loll

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u/juandell Nuggets 1d ago

Well I guess nothing is wrong then. Keep ignoring fan feedback about the product.

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u/mrjdk83 1d ago

Because it was very for people to watch. NFL games are on nbc, cbs, Fox which everyone has access to. NBA should take a page from the nfl

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u/w33b2 NBA 1d ago

It’s almost like it wasn’t restricted to league pass and people could… WATCH the game. That’s crazy.

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u/duke82722009 NBA 1d ago

I wonder how much of that was Disney+. I had only looked at it to look at the mickey game, but switched over once I realized they had the actual game. Don't have espn+

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u/Bg3building 1d ago

Cool? Ratings talk is boring af

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u/Few-Can7012 1d ago

@nba trying to change the narrative

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u/silentmikhail 1d ago

But the NFL demolished them in the ratings.

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u/pbaagui1 Clippers 23h ago

So NBA season really does being on Christmas

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u/Shafe1975 22h ago

I find it odd that all I heard about a week ago was how sad the nba ratings were and what they could do to draw interest. Then all of a sudden on Christmas it’s up 84%? I know Christmas is technically the start of the season but that’s a pretty big increase. Especially since nfl had games on as well

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u/Deepmastervalley 18h ago

Imagine what happens when they have games broadcasted on non-pay-subscription channels

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u/Rustico32482 1d ago

I have league pass and couldn't watch any of the games... It's ridiculous

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u/No-Lime-13 1d ago

And the NFL beat them by 5x.