Nothing motivates people to watch sports quite like a good team, and as a Cleveland native, I can confidently say I’ve watched more basketball in the past few months than I have in years. My team — the Cleveland Cavaliers — has been doing amazing, but unless you’re a consistent NBA viewer, there’s a high chance you had no idea.
The NBA has seen a decline in viewership for some years now, and I don’t think it’s helped by how difficult it is to watch their games. All season I’ve had my pick of obscure Ohio sports channels: Fubo, and the nuclear option, NBA League Pass. Gone are the days of everything being on TNT.
A lot of people don’t know how to watch their favorite teams anymore. Vincent Peña, a DePaul sports communication professor, blames fragmentation for this dilemma.
“We’ve seen a move away from broadcast, and we’re dealing with a push and pull between local and national audiences,” Peña said. “In basketball, bigger markets like New York and LA are always going to be pushed, regardless of how bad the teams are.”
There are 30 teams under the NBA umbrella, all from different towns with drastically different streaming deals. The league chooses to platform a select few teams for primetime audiences, and the rest are often forgotten.
The league has made efforts to increase engagement with recent additions like the NBA Cup, and while they’ve seen mixed results, they haven’t addressed the main issue.
For Suns fans like Peña or Cavaliers fans like me, it’s understandably difficult to watch our teams on national broadcasts. But just because your team is in a larger market, it doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods.
Despite Chicago being the third-largest basketball market in the country, some fans are still having issues. Chicago sports fan and DePaul freshman Eric Serrano says he rarely watches Bulls games anymore.
“It’s very hard to watch the Bulls,” Serrano said. “Especially with the new Chicago Sports Network with the Bulls, the White Sox and the Blackhawks, it’s a lot of money a month to watch three mediocre teams.”
Through Chicago Sports Network, fans get access to one of those teams’ games for $19.99 a month, but for $29.99, they can watch all three. When you factor in other services like NBA League Pass, which starts at $49.99, the prices get steep quickly.
“Even the NBA League Pass doesn’t give you access to all the games,” Peña said. “They may give you access to most, but the streaming rights belong to too many different people.”
For young fans and college students, these prices are too high for an incomplete service. Speaking from experience, I’d much rather find game highlights on Instagram than bother watching the game.
“A lot of younger fans are just watching highlights, or they know how to get around it using services like VPNs or Streameast,” Peña said. “I consistently have students who don’t watch games at all.”
This issue uniquely targets young people because while we generally can’t afford to pay for these subscriptions, the most dedicated among us will always find a way.
Miranda Rodriguez, a DePaul junior who works in social media for DePaul Athletics and the Chicago Blackhawks, is one of those dedicated individuals.
“On average, I’m watching a game every night,” Rodriguez said. “But it’s a pain.”
Rodriguez, who is currently paying for five streaming services, doesn’t believe social media is a worthy alternative to watching games or the way to capture young fans’ long term attention.
“It’s great for highlights, but we shouldn’t rely on it because social media changes so quickly,” Rodriguez said. “Right now, we’re selling our team by cutting up pieces from the game.”
Though it’s a slightly different story, college sports are also victims of the streaming landscape.
Last week, the DePaul women’s basketball team faced off against Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies in a nearly sold-out Wintrust Arena. People came from across the country to watch the game, but others may have had issues trying to watch from home.
While DePaul women’s basketball games are often streamed through Marquee Sports Network and FloSports, they’re prone to switch services game to game. While both can be difficult to stream, the men’s team can generally be found a lot easier on mainstream channels like Fox Sports 1.
“When our streaming networks change almost every game, we’re losing our viewership,” Rodriguez said. “It’s concerning because we have a strong team, and we want to make sure people are paying attention.”
The impact is roughly the same, even if the scale is different. Whether it’s the pros or collegiate sports, fans aren’t watching as much as they could be.
“I want to keep up with my teams,” Serrano said. “I know the Bulls are middle of the pack, but I want to support them. Just not for that asking price.”
The NBA’s new media deal could be a silver lining, as it looks to unify things and make it easier to find games.
“I think what’s going to happen is a rebundling,” Peña said. “We might be returning to a time where you can watch everything in the same place.”
Related stories:
- Live Updates: DePaul falls to Bueckers, UConn in front of record-breaking crowd
- Holtmann returns to Hinkle, DePaul falls to Butler
- Live updates: DePaul men’s basketball loses an overtime thriller versus No. 7 Marquette
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