Ratings For Christmas Day NFL & NBA Games Discussion

[Heelmatic]

Oh shyt that leap year coming at a bad time for the NBA. They better enjoy next year cause it's over after that.

 

[Unbothered]

The issue boils down to importance and meaning. At a time when we essentially have every type of media available to us at all times, people are going to prioritize watching things they feel has value or immediate importance. NFL games in December have playoff implications, pretty much every game played on Christmas had importance and meaning to a large portion of the audience.

The NBA has gone the complete opposite direction. For years everyone from the organizations, to media, down to the players have been telling us the regular season doesnt matter. At the end of the day if you tell me this product is irrelevant, then why would you expect me to watch it? Especially when you are now going up against a product that is selling the importance of each of their games?

Not just in December but, every game in the NFL up until the Superbowl is important due to the fact they play less games and the margin for error is slimmer, you lose one game that could be the difference between making the postseason or just losing in playoffs since you only get one chance to advance.

The NBA plays a larger schedule on top of each round of the playoffs being a best of 7 so the margin is bigger that a team can lose a game or two (or three) and still win it all.

For those reasons comparing the NFL and NBA is a faulty comparison. The NBA and say the MLB or NHL would be a better comparison since these leagues play over 80 games in the regular season and more come the postseason.

Because of the NFL wins and losses stipulations it's hard to compare their league to anyone which is why I think using the NFL as the barometer for viewership success or fan enjoyability is a faulty point of view.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

That doesn't mean we're not watching football. It's like saying black people don't check for Malcolm because more of us checked for Martin

It's not even true anyway lol. We talk more about the NBA because of the year long gossip that surrounds the players but we still watch football more. Yes, a lower percentage of cacs watch the NBA..

But by pure numbers.... if the NBA Finals does 15 million viewers and the Super Bowl does 120 million viewers, more of us in total numbers WATCHED the Super Bowl

 

[SchoolboyC]

The issue boils down to importance and meaning. At a time when we essentially have every type of media available to us at all times, people are going to prioritize watching things they feel has value or immediate importance. NFL games in December have playoff implications, pretty much every game played on Christmas had importance and meaning to a large portion of the audience.

The NBA has gone the complete opposite direction. For years everyone from the organizations, to media, down to the players have been telling us the regular season doesnt matter. At the end of the day if you tell me this product is irrelevant, then why would you expect me to watch it? Especially when you are now going up against a product that is selling the importance of each of their games?

NFL marketing is miles ahead. They’re running commercials selling a Patriots-Broncos Week 16 game as a big time event, meanwhile the ESPN/TNT are scared to run a Wolves/OKC game

Those Knicks-Bulls, Sonics-Rockets type Christmas games used to be such a contrast in styles...and the league would actually market the "physical" Eastern conference wars and the "fast paced" West track meets for its audience.


Everybody is tuning in to watch Barkley vs. Kemp. Jordan-Ewing.


As much as @Rhakim and @HandyWithTheSteel bust nuts over themselves about how the NBA right now has the most skill playing at it's highest level...that shyt doesn't resonate. Nobody gives a f*ck.

Like I said in another thread, a lot of the hype for those 90s and 00s rivalries was built on those teams having battles in the playoffs every year. The NBA for the last 5-6 seasons has seen a level of parity the league hasn’t had since the 70s and we aren’t seeing the same teams go heads up, except for like Boston and Miami

Bulls vs. Knicks in the 90s had so much weight because those teams were battling in the postseason basically every year, we knew it was a preview. Those Cavs vs. Warriors games became such a big deal because we knew it was a preview of what was to come

 

[Big Boss]

The issue boils down to importance and meaning. At a time when we essentially have every type of media available to us at all times, people are going to prioritize watching things they feel has value or immediate importance. NFL games in December have playoff implications, pretty much every game played on Christmas had importance and meaning to a large portion of the audience.

The NBA has gone the complete opposite direction. For years everyone from the organizations, to media, down to the players have been telling us the regular season doesnt matter. At the end of the day if you tell me this product is irrelevant, then why would you expect me to watch it? Especially when you are now going up against a product that is selling the importance of each of their games?

Don forget load management

 

[Professor Emeritus]

As much as @Rhakim and @HandyWithTheSteel bust nuts over themselves about how the NBA right now has the most skill playing at it's highest level...that shyt doesn't resonate. Nobody gives a f*ck.

Um, I've repeatedly said that better basketball has unfortunately led to a less entertaining game. The problem is that everyone knows the most efficient way to play now, so everyone plays the same rather than playing to their strengths.

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/why-analytics-moneyball-leads-to-more-success-but-worse-entertainment.945179/

I didn't actually watch this video, just posting cause it seems to come to the same conclusion.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Like I said in another thread, a lot of the hype for those 90s and 00s rivalries was built on those teams having battles in the playoffs every year. The NBA for the last 5-6 seasons has seen a level of parity the league hasn’t had since the 70s and we aren’t seeing the same teams go heads up, except for like Boston and Miami

Bulls vs. Knicks in the 90s had so much weight because those teams were battling in the postseason basically every year, we knew it was a preview. Those Cavs vs. Warriors games became such a big deal because we knew it was a preview of what was to come

That's also because of free agency and superteams. How many different teams has LeBron, Harden, Durant, Kyrie, etc. been on now? Players move around in the NFL a lot too but not the quarterbacks. They are usually with their team for a decade.

 

[jaydawg08]

Strangest thread subject I swear lol

NFL players consistently wish they were NBA players. So I guess NFL owners, who are already billionaires, get more $$? Congrats. NFL players wish they had the union contract and retirement, pension, salary, outside earning potential, etc that NBA players do

 

[tremonthustler1]

Um, I've repeatedly said that better basketball has unfortunately led to a less entertaining game. The problem is that everyone knows the most efficient way to play now, so everyone plays the same rather than playing to their strengths.

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/why-analytics-moneyball-leads-to-more-success-but-worse-entertainment.945179/

I didn't actually watch this video, just posting cause it seems to come to the same conclusion.

People hate analytics first and foremost because people love athletes who don't think and go strictly off instinct. We enjoy mistakes and players capitalizing off mistakes.

That and analytics makes it harder to blame people when shyt doesn't work. High risk, high reward is the sweet spot for fans who don't live for anything else.

 

[SchoolboyC]

That's also because of free agency and superteams. How many different teams has LeBron, Harden, Durant, Kyrie, etc. been on now? Players move around in the NFL a lot too but not the quarterbacks. They are usually with their team for a decade.

That’s definitely valid but there’s still a lot of guys that haven’t been moving around

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

You never played football with your cousins in the backyard during the holidays?

Of course I have, but 2 hours of low impact backyard football is not scientifically proven to lead to brain deterioration

 

[IIVI]

Not just in December but, every game in the NFL up until the Superbowl is important due to the fact they play less games and the margin for error is slimmer, you lose one game that could be the difference between making the postseason or just losing in playoffs since you only get one chance to advance.

The NBA plays a larger schedule on top of each round of the playoffs being a best of 7 so the margin is bigger that a team can lose a game or two (or three) and still win it all.

For those reasons comparing the NFL and NBA is a faulty comparison. The NBA and say the MLB or NHL would be a better comparison since these leagues play over 80 games in the regular season and more come the postseason.

Because of the NFL wins and losses stipulations it's hard to compare their league to anyone which is why I think using the NFL as the barometer for viewership success is a faulty point of view.

Yeah, Law of Averages tend to play out in an NBA series. A team may go nuclear for a game and beat the better team, but 90% of the other games through the series it'll go back to normal and far more times than not the better team wins the series.

When you break down the numbers:
A top 3 team has won the NBA Championship 97% of the time. 97%
Only two teams to have ever broke that trend were Russell's Celtics (which were basically the best team of the decade) and Olajuwon's Rockets.
Every other single year, a top 3 team wins. Can you see a 4th-seeded team win the Finals this year barring an injury? I can't.

Meanwhile over the last 20 years the Bucs, Packers, Steelers, Giants, etc. were all 5th and 6th seeds that won the Super Bowl recently beating some really good teams to get there.
1/3 of the Super Bowls going back to 2000 were won by the 4th-6th seeds.

The difference between a 33% chance and a 3% chance is insane.

NFL teams just got to make it to the post season and like they say: it's a brand new season at that point - which it really is.
In the NFL play-offs a returner makes an excellent play or a great QB throws an early pick six and it starts getting tough for the top seed because there's no next week or next game that season. Then the rain starts kicking in while you're a finesse team.

The game is then watched by many people seeing if that team can figure it out. On average an offense will have 60 downs to make something happen with their season on the line. That's about 180-240 play calls they need to run/execute during the entire post season vs some really good, big playmaking defenses looking to stop them.

The NBA is good for what it does, but it'll never generate the same feeling of high stakes like the NFL season and play-offs. They're two different formats. It's literally trying to fight against how numbers/math works.

The NFL has figured out how to make scarcity in sports optimal to their product and it's understandable because of the physical demand you see every single minute on the field. A little tougher to do with the NBA because honestly fans already hate to see players sit out games (especially when fouls get called for small contact).

 

[Tribal Outkast]

They need more nba games on network tv. Like I think that’s pretty much it. I guess networks may not want to hitch themselves to the nba for a whole 82 game season but they need to try. There’s still people out here who don’t have cable and don’t have these streaming services. I just wonder how the nfl would do if they put most of their games on cable outside of Sunday Night and Monday Night Football. Having to have nba tv to watch games sucks. The shyt don’t even come with a basic cable plan.

 

[SchoolboyC]

Yeah, Law of Averages tend to play out in an NBA series. A team may go nuclear for a game and beat the better team, but 90% of the other games through the series it'll go back to normal and far more times than not the better team wins the series.

When you break down the numbers:
A top 3 team has won the NBA Championship 98% of the time. 98%
Only two teams to have ever broke that trend were Russell's Celtics (which were basically the best team of the decade) and Olajuwon's Rockets.
Every other single year, a top 3 team wins. Can you see a 4th seeded team win the Finals this year? I can't.

Meanwhile over the last 20 years the Bucs, Packers, Steelers, Giants, etc. were all 5th and 6th seeds that won the Super Bowl recently beating some really good teams to get there.
1/3 of the Super Bowls going back to 2000 were won by the 4th-6th seeds.

The difference between 1/3 and 98% is insane.

NFL teams just got to make it to the post season and like they say: it's a brand new season at that point - which it really is.
In the NFL play-offs a returner makes an excellent play or a great QB throws an early pick six and it starts getting tough for the top seed because there's no next week or next game that season. Then the rain starts kicking in while you're a finesse team.

The game is then watched by many people seeing if that team can figure it out. On average an offense will have 60 downs to make something happen with their season on the line.

The NBA is good for what it does, but it'll never generate the same feeling of high stakes like the NFL season and play-offs. They're two different formats. It's literally trying to fight against how numbers/math works.

The NBA Cup just showed a version of this, the Pacers are an average team that got hot at the right time and made it to the title game.

In a 7 game series we all know they’re not beating the Celtics or Bucks but you make it single elimination and now they have a chance

Like you said, it’s an inherent structural difference that just cannot be avoided

 

[CrimsonTider]

I think the NBA product is just better now. So many starting QB out, and those games just turn into trash. But an NBA game without the best player playing is still a great game a lot of the time.

No you don’t think this

Basketball is more popular among Black people than the NFL not just from a fan perspective but culturally.

Both leagues are majority Black but the NBA/basketball period is much more synonymous with Black culture and Blackness in general.

No it’s not. Maybe if you’re some weird New Yorker

No black person prefers the nba in the south