The Low NBA Finals Rating Agenda

The NBA Finals have ended, and it is a miracle that we got this far. These Finals will probably have the lowest TV ratings of all time for an NBA Finals. That fact is being used by people who have some ill intent. There is a racist and political agenda behind this type of rhetoric.

One of the most visible people who are celebrating the Finals Ratings and fitting it into their agenda is Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz is using the hashtag #GoWokeGoBroke. He even had a heated exchange with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban regarding this. Ted feels like this is the so-called “liberal agenda” that the NBA is appeasing to causing them to lose viewers. This can’t be farther from the truth.

The framing that the NBA’s initiatives to support the players in their battle for social justice is having a negative effect on ratings is totally ridiculous. It totally ignores where we are at in the world and this just commentary is just a way to push back against people who are standing up against the blatant racism that has been taking place in this country. So, you may be wondering why are the ratings so low? Easy there are a few things that are all working together.

First and most importantly we are living a full-fledged pandemic. Covid-19 has had a lot of effects of our day to day living. The NBA Finals are traditionally in June and their only television competition in the sports world is early season Major League Baseball and the NHL Playoffs. The NBA Finals had to run in October when usually the league is in preseason. So, throw all of this against NFL regular season, a shortened college football season that doesn’t have any fluff it becomes a bigger competition for eyes. The NHL Playoffs were also running during the same time, which also had a 61% decline in ratings that the people who are talking bad about the NBA won’t mention. Baseball had started the playoffs, so the sports landscape was as crowded as ever with high stakes competition going on.

The pandemic also created the need for the NBA Bubble which brought some good competition but took away an important element to the game. In this environment there were no fans. In a sports television product one of the most underrated elements is the fans. They are not there to just watch the game they are part of the show. Their reactions and emotions give the home audience a window into the intensity of the game and the atmosphere.

What some sports talk radio host and politicians want you to think is that the players speaking up is bad for money. This is not true and that is why in the wake of the events of this summer and all the protest all of these Fortune 500 Brands started making their own statements. The fanbase that would be turned off from watching the NBA because of this truly are people who don’t even watch the NBA. They also tend to say things like “I like college basketball better than the NBA”. You know the sport where people don’t get paid, more importantly the black dudes are not getting any money. Athletes need to continue to speak their mind and push the culture forward. If you people speaking out against racism bothers, you then have the courage to say you are just racist. If it makes you uncomfortable seeing these types of things maybe spend some of that energy making society better and fix these crooked systems that are slanted against specific populations of its citizens.

Keith B. Holt

Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr