As the NBA struggles to win its devoted audience back, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced Tuesday that he has a plan to fix it. When players return to the court for the 2021 season, they will not only notice the Black Lives Matter messages have disappeared, but they also won’t be allowed to wear political statements on their jerseys.
Sitting down to an interview with Rachel Nichols, Silver laid out his plan for the new season and some of the ways he hopes to win back fans. He said, “In terms of the messages you see on the court and our jerseys, this was an extraordinary moment in time when we began these discussions with the players and what we all lived through this summer. My sense is there’ll be somewhat a return to normalcy — that those messages will largely be left to be delivered off the floor.”
What is interesting about the statement Silver gave to Nichols is what he is saying between the lines. While Silver won’t admit the reason behind the move is because fans are turning away from the sport due to its recent political circus, that is exactly the reason for it. The closet Silver came to acknowledge the mishap was saying, “I understand those people who are saying ‘I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game.’”
The problems for the NBA started when the league was shut down due to the COVID outbreak. Months without games, players testing positive, and when it finally returned – the COVID restrictions mangled with the Black Lives Matter movement made the sport feel more like a rally. For fans, the sport they loved was being used as a platform for politics instead of a place to showcase athletic sportsmanship.
The result for the political push saw record lows as Game 1 of the NBA Finals had the lowest viewership ever for a finals game. A matchup between the LA Lakers and Miami Heat, even the powerhouse Lebron James couldn’t turn the numbers around as Game 2 saw lower viewers than Game 1. And guess what? Game 3 saw even lower numbers than game two.
While it does seem like the NBA is listening to its fanbase, it’s unclear if Adam Silver will be able to resurrect what fans miss and love about basketball while appeasing the unyielding left.
This piece was written by Jeremy Porter on October 8, 2020. It originally appeared in DrewBerquist.com and is used by permission.
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