A New York Times columnist wrote that, "Next time, the stoppage may well last longer than a few days. Maybe players will sit out an entire season." Reportedly, some NBA players discussed not finishing the league's playoffs.
Even more troubling is that the league's network TV premium broadcasts ratings on ABC are off by 45 percent, what a former public relations executive for the NBA describes as a "Cratering" of viewership.
It's hard to ignore the politics, especially the increasing habit of NBA players and coaches of criticizing the U.S. and its citizens, even while many gave a pass to China-one of the league's biggest new markets-during its crackdown on Hong Kong dissidents.
"How much public commentary out of the league should be a lecture directed at people other than themselves?" former NBA executive Ethan Strauss asked recently.
The poor TV ratings suggest that many sports viewers have missed watching NBA games less than the league might have anticipated.
Though players have argued that the business of the league should be a lower priority than social change, they've also earned increasing criticism, even within the black community, for supporting the controversial Black Lives Matter movement.
More recently, NBA players began inhabiting another bubble-the playoff system devised by the league, with all games taking place at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex within Disney World in Florida.
https://www.city-journal.org/nba-mlb-boycott-black-lives-matter
No comments:
Post a Comment