Malik Shareef
+ FollowShould the NBA Push Back Its Start Date?
On Christmas, the NBA treated its fans to a full 13 hours of basketball with most of its marquee teams in action. Excitement for the league was at an all-time high, especially after an ugly lockout that saw the season start a month and a half later and with a shorter season.
The NBA dominated Twitter, as all the trending topics worldwide were NBA-related throughout the day. As the ratings rolled in, the 5 games averaged 6.2 million viewers, with the Bulls-Lakers match-up as the third most-watched regular season game ever on ABC and Celtics-Knicks the most-viewed Christmas game on cable. Doubters that said the NBA would take a hit in popularity were certainly proven wrong based on the first televised games of the season.
Still: Was the increased popularity based on the long lockout or did the timing work better for the league?
Many say that an 82-game regular season is just too long. However, you’ll never see the NBA shorten its regular season because of its profit margin. While 60 games are probably ideal, it’s just not going to happen.
My proposal? Keep the season at 82 games, but start it on December 1st instead of the end of October/ start of November. Why? The NFL and college football seasons are in full swing at the end of of October/ November and most fans of basketball are also football fans. Many will tell you that their full attention is devoted to the football season, and they’ll start watching basketball around Christmas.
Moving the season back to December 1st would allow the NBA to strike when the college football season is winding down and the NFL playoff race is shaping up. Most college conference championship games take place at the beginning of the month, with some teams having completed their seasons if not going to a bowl game. As evidenced by the Christmas ratings, people want basketball, just not as early as they have it now.
Moving the season back a month would also alleviate the dreaded “dead” period of the summer, when there is nothing on television during the week and weekends but baseball. Baseball also suffers from an incredibly long regular season. I, for one, don’t start watching baseball until September, when the playoffs are about to start. Many basketball fans say the same thing. When the NBA Finals end in mid June, there is a period where Sports Center highlights are nothing but baseball. Football doesn’t start until August, and for that month and a half, being a sports fan is unbearable.
Moving the season back only a month would help to alleviate the drought.
The NBA playoffs are always an exciting time; why not have them televised without competition from any other sports?
Like the NBA lockout, I doubt that my suggestions would get any real play, but I believe they make tons of sense. A December 1st start date would help to increase interest in the NBA season, give the NBA exclusive television time, and selfishly end the dead period of the summer. As noted earlier, football, whether college or professional, is king amongst sports viewers. A move to December 1st eases the fan into the NBA season while football is winding down. The only potential problem with my scenario is this summer, when the 2012 Summer Olympics take place in London. Moving the season back a month means that it wouldn’t end until mid July, which is when the Olympics are underway. Or you could always just shorten the season. But we already know that’s not going to happen.
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One Response to Should the NBA Push Back Its Start Date?
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Christmas day NBA games on TV are always ratings winners, mostly because they have sports broadcasts all to themselves on that day. I'd be hesitant to move the league's opening day as you've proposed for it's likely to mean the end of the regular season, and then the playoffs get pushed back to July — where they'd have to compete not only with MLB's All-Star break and auto racing, but prime travel season for families. An alternative might be a compressed schedule as they're attempting this season. But I think that would result in an increase in injuries.
If I were a team owner, I'd develop non-media resources in my home market and recommend my peers do the same. In fact, it would be in the best interest of owners for the league to implement some type of blackout rule, similar to what the NFL has. The guaranteed money from national TV and radio contracts enables incompetent owners and dilutes the product.