Why isn't basketball more popular in the US?

Are you telling me that a "white Lebron" would not make the NBA more wayyyyyy more popular to white America?


I strongly, strongly disagree.


A white Lebron would be MASSIVE for NBA revenues...

 

Jason Williams? He was prime time.

 

Oh yeah! :grin:

White Chocolate! Everyone is waiting for the "great white hope"...

Steve Nash counts imo...

 

Again, you are going to extremes. You point out the worst extremes and compare to a golden boy. I would say Ray Lewis, Ben Rothlesberger, Pac Man Jones, or countless others would be harder to have your son root for than Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, or Lebron James. There are headcases in all sports and all sports have a thuggish element to them. Could it just be that football is more interesting to watch to most? Could it be that baseball is America's past time so many have sentimental reasons for their connection? Their dad watched with his dad, and they watched with their dad, and so on.

Again, if white people only cared to buy tickets to watch whites, then Hockey, Nascar, and baseball would all be far above football in interest. As it is, none are even close. You just can't accept the fact that you played the race card for no apparent reason and nobody is agreeing with you, so you keep throwing out nonsense.

 

For me, the game just evolved away from something that I used to like a lot more. If you watch tape of games 15-20 years ago, there is so much fluidity and so much less banging down low. Sure that was a part of the game, but it seems like the game has gotten more physical and less motion-oriented.

It was over for me when the rest of the league started playing like the Jazz and flopping because it worked. Guys now fly all over the place, and referees have the impossible job of trying to stay consistent within a game where they don't seem to have much control. Every call is disputed angrily, and the game just seems to stagnate for me. If I wanted to watch people falling over half the time (some of the time legitimate, most of the time not), I'd watch soccer.

It's football & hockey for me - games where the sort of "code" that you don't fall on your ass and look like a p***y because you're a man and it's just not okay. Yes, I know there is diving in hockey and sometimes guys will act to get a call in football, but it's FAR less common. I guess I've just grown to appreciate the more blue-collar sports.

Baseball is third for me, mostly because it doesn't feel like it's changed much (at least in how the game is viewed from a spectator standpoint - the steroid issue is something else altogether).

 

But those guys have helmets, you can't even see them. Ron Artest on the otherhand, is a second and 5 feet away from sprinting into the crowd.

You are going to extremes. Obviously the sport comes first, and If you love the sport then that is all that matters no matter the race. All I am saying is that the general "casual" public, could be very turned off by the NBA in many ways. The rich old white men that are paying for tickets, do not want to watch Stephen Jackson and thugs play streetball...

Obviously the NBA is nothing like that, but that is the perception for MANY white and casual, would be fans...That is why David Stern has gone to ridiculous lengths to try and change the image of the NBA.

 

Again, weak argument. Nash is a two time MVP. Jason Williams, while not the best player, was the most exciting player in the league for a few years. Jason Kidd has been close to a nightly triple-double for over 10 years. Nowitzky is always near the top in scoring. None of these guys have brought in more interest.

 

That is silly.

Obviously that is not the ONLY reason.


Answer this. Would a white Lebron significantly raise NBA revenue?


Case closed...

 

Nash=Canadian
Kidd=Half Black
Dirk=German

Jason Williams did bring in more revenue for sure, and he was mediocre at best!!!

 

:grin:

 

I thought that Kidd would be okay with you since you used Jeter as your golden white boy from baseball, that whites buy tickets to see. At least be consistant with your argument.

Williams while mediocre at best, as you put it, was instant excitement. He was just as likely to do something you have never seen before or take a game over, as throw an errant pass or shot that got the other team back in it. His color had nothing to do with the excitement he brought to the game. He also did not make the NBA more popular. He just energized the fans who already watched basketball.

 

Funny the only one you quoted who agreed with your take was Air Langi. The one guy was joking, and changed to his serious answer. The other just said rich white men don't watch it and it is rigged. He didn't say why rich white men don't watch it.

 

Well even If we count Kidd and Nash, which we should I guess.


What percentage of the NBA is that? And I wish those guys (while great players) could compete at that Kobe/Wade/Lebron level. It's ok to disagree.

I just think that a league with 82% of the players being African American, and being totally visible on the court unlike the NFL, has an impact on ticket buyers, revenue, and sports that parents raise their kids to watch. Old white men are buying the tickets, and I honestly believe that many old white men have biases and just simply relate to a sport not dominated by a race that they generally do not relate to. Obviously I do not give a flying fart in the wind, but I think the casual white ticket buyer might. I am not saying that it is EVERYTHING, but I think it is a factor, a piece of the pie If you will...

I would like to see a chart contrasting white ticket revenue and the emergence of more black players since the 60s-70s-80s-90s-now. Hmmm...

 

Come on now...

You know what those 3 were getting at...:grin:

 

That's messed up that an arthropod is moar popular than Fútbol.

Seriously speaking, any sport with the following will not be popular in the world:

1. Many rule changes every year (overtime rule changes... again, NFL?)
2. Lots of equipment or special playing field needed (really, I need a "basket" to play BASKTETball? No. Ok.)
3. Many breaks in between. Lots of timeouts stop people from "continuing to play."

Look how long it has been since FOOTBALL (soccer for you Yanks) changed rules. Look how easy it is for two peeps in Africa, Asia, or South America to play FOOTBALL: just make a ball of paper and kick it. What? Did you say 45 minutes of non-stop moving my body around? I'm game! :grin:

 

I'd like to see the popularity (revenue, ratings) of today's NBA compared to the NBA in 70s, 80s, and 90s.

I think the 90s will forever be known as basketball's Golden Age.

And yeah, what everyone is thinking is absolutely correct, a lot of it has to do with racial representation and culture.

 

Why did Tiger Woods get even more white people interested in golf?

 

I really enjoy basketball. I don't enjoy the NBA.

Reason: The reffing. It's atrocious.

 

Exactly. I only like watching the rockets but the NBA is just one step above the WWE. There is reason why most basketball fans are more into march madness.

 

I think the NBA and their horrible officiating and star treatment definitely turns a lot of people away. The casual fan loses patience when he has to sit through a free throw shooting contest between Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard. I can't even remember the last time I've sat through an entire game outside of Rockets games.

Also, as complicated as some of the rules in football and baseball may seem, I think basketball is harder, in a way, to understand and pick-up to someone who hasn't played the game- and I think there are relatively fewer spectacular plays in basketball. Or, at least, they don't affect the game as much as a homerun in baseball or a 60 yard TD pass in football. Seeing someone hit a spectacular shot is nice, but seconds later the other team could be hitting a three to take the lead. On the surface it seems as simple as "putting the ball in the hoop," but there is so much detail that goes into the strategy...ball movement, spacing on offense, creating mismatches, team defense, etc. To the casual observer, these are relatively boring strategies when you compare it to the play-action pass, a blitz, or even a pitching change or pinch hitter.

As for me, I have an appreciation for it just from playing and watching for many years. Football is my favorite sport to watch, but I don't know if anything tops a Rockets playoff game. Baseball is a distant third, mostly due to the fact that it will always bug me that the teams aren't equal (ie no salary cap).