True.... a lot of this however also relates to recent changes in ownership of teams. A new generation of team ownership has arrived.
Long boycotted NBA, NFL and now MLB too. I will focus on the major corporate sponsors by avoiding buying their products. That is best and easiest way to send the message.
The thing is the NBA bubble has been a huge success for them. No COVID cases once it started and no issues related to COVID wiht all the players, medical staff, team staff and hotel staff. Baseball has 2 teams that have played only half their games due to COVID and players and staff not following the rules. NFL and college football is going to be a shit show once they start up but NBA will continue uninterrupted to the FINALS. Same with NHL by the way. Team revenues have taken a hit only from stadium attendance for msised games and those extra regarding playoffs but no teams are suffering in any major way, they are owned by billionaires making a fortune on licensing and their sharte of TV rights through MARCH and the remaining teams. The 2 day strike was only a temporary halt and it picked back up on Saturday no problem. The majority of players were not going to give up all their hard work, money, and future to end the season like that. PLaying and bringing attention is the best they can do and what they do best to be honest. I think the NFL is going to have several issues if they allow fans and the teams do not lock down when travelling for games. Imagine Cowboys coming into NY to play and 25 players test positive for COVID....game is cancelled and you cannot just add doubleheaders like in baseball. College football will be worse because the SEC thinks COVID is a myth and Alabama already has 1000 students testing positive. Watch what happens closer to game day when it spread through a team and staff (most staff members are older)>
Isn't impact the reason there are strikes, as opposed to some other tactic to get what you want, after making a polite request has failed.
NBA ratings down 20%; poll finds 38% of fans not watching the NBA because it's 'too political' https://www.theblaze.com/news/nba-playoff-ratings-down-fans-too-political After months of no sporting events, many believed that fans would be flocking to their televisions in droves to watch live sports. However, that has yet to be the case, especially for the NBA, where its TV ratings are actually down during the pandemic. Over the first week of the 2020 NBA playoffs, ESPN, ABC, and TNT averaged 1.875 million TV viewers per game. As of Aug. 25, the NBA playoffs were down 20% compared to 2019, according to Real GM. Ratings were down 28% for the coveted 18-49 demographic for the first week of the playoffs, according to ShowBuzzDaily. The NBA has played some weekday afternoon games, which have hurt ratings, but even prime time night games are not attracting viewers like they once did. "Compared to ABC's first playoff game last year, Clippers-Warriors Game 1 on a Saturday night, ratings fell 23% (from 3.0) and viewership 21% (from 4.83M)," Sports Media Watch reported. "The Lakers' win ranks as ABC's least-watched playoff opener in five years (2015 Pelicans-Warriors: 3.49M)." Last week, the NBA postponed three days of playoff games to give time to players and fans to reflect on the police shooting death of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Saturday's elimination Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers managed to only attract 2.92 million viewers and a 1.8 rating. On the same day, more people watched NASCAR than the Lakers' series-clinching win. The NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona drew 3.87 million viewers and earned a 2.4 rating. "Versus the comparable window last year, ratings fell 35% and viewership 30% from Game 1 of a Sixers-Raptors semifinal (1.95, 3.08M). Keep in mind last year's game aired exclusively on TNT," according to Sports Media Watch. President Donald Trump noticed the ratings drop in the NBA and voiced his opinion on the topic on Twitter. "People are tired of watching the highly political @NBA," he tweeted. "Basketball ratings are WAY down, and they won't be coming back. I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them. Stand tall for our Country and our Flag!!!" A new poll found that President Trump could be right about mixing political and social justice issues with sports. A new Harris Poll found that 38% of sports fans say they're watching fewer games because the NBA has "become too political." Republicans were more likely to turn off the NBA, as 57% said the NBA was "too political," compared to 22% of Democrats, according to Forbes. The survey of nearly 2,000 people from over the weekend also found 28% of respondents were watching fewer sports because it was "boring without fans." The poll discovered that 19% of people were not watching the NBA because of the league's friendly association with China. Broken down by party lines, 36% of Republicans said they weren't watching the NBA because of close ties to China, versus 8% for Democrats.
People never get into the first round of the playoffs... Like hockey, the NBA playoffs have 1 round too many and watching a #1 play a #8 is never a big thrill even though a few of the others were closer (Den v. Utah). Ratings will ramp up now Houston is playing Lakers if Lakers then play Clippers. EAST playoffs have some bad teams relative to the West and BOS v. TOR is not an exciting match up....neither is MIL v. MIA. All the action is in the Western Conference and once they get rid of the day games the ratings will go up. You have to be an NBA fan to understand the dynamics here.
A bunch of bars did this in N.C. for NFL games during recent seasons. This bar in Oklahoma is expanding this concept... You can’t watch sports at this Oklahoma bar because players kneel for national anthem https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article245578420.html Calling it a sign of “disrespect” to the United States, the Starlite Club in Ardmore, Oklahoma, told patrons and the public it won’t show any games or events from sports leagues whose players kneel during the national anthem. “Due to the disrespect shown towards our great country and the men and women that have sacrificed so much to defend and protect it.. [Starlite will] no longer offer viewing of any NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, soccer or any other related broadcast where players do not stand and Respect the National Anthem,” management announced Monday on Facebook. Since the announcement, Starlite has drawn both criticism and support online. “Love it. They don’t come on my tv at home either,” one supporter commented. Out-of-state supporters weighed in as well. “Don’t even live there and never been there but yalls message has reached Texas and we stand behind this in so many ways,” a commenter said. Others weren’t happy with Starlite’s decision. “That’s a lot of words for ‘I’m a racist,’” one person commented. “Guess what, Starlite Bar: you’re getting boycotted. #blacklivesmatter,” another wrote. Some wondered what the bar might show if most major sports wouldn’t be televised there. “So y’all airing bowling and cricket?” another asked. A movement that started with NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem in 2016 as a silent protest of police violence against Black Americans has inspired athletes in different leagues, playing different sports, to do the same. Support grew further after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the wide-scale protests that followed. Even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who at first discouraged kneel-ins, has since changed his stance, apologizing in August for his and the league’s initial response to the symbolic protests, and to Kaepernick specifically. “It is not about the flag. The message here, and what our players are doing, is being mischaracterized,” Goodell said, Sports Illustrated reported. “These are not people who are unpatriotic, they’re not disloyal ... What they were trying to do was exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed.” Many still oppose the kneeling, including President Donald Trump, who has condemned the protest as “disgraceful.” An Oklahoma state representative threatened the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team in July, saying that if any players took a knee, the state should “reexamine” the team’s tax benefits, McClatchy News reported. “By kneeling during the playing of the national anthem, the NBA and its players are showing disrespect to the American flag and all it stands for,” Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, said in a statement.
Yes and it’s an ever growing, anti-political sentiment in this flyover region. People watch sports as an escape from life’s daily dramas not to be bombarded and reminded of them. The Big 12 announced they are requiring “social justice” messages on all team uniforms this year. This will not go over well with the boosters.