Valuetainment founder and CEO Patrick Bet-David delved into the sports world this week, shedding light on the viewership declines plaguing the National Basketball Association. Bet-David, who became a minority owner of the New York Yankees earlier this year, declared that the current NBA product “absolutely sucks,” contrasting it with the National Football League’s steady rise to the top.
Viewership numbers from Christmas Day games for both leagues make clear the difference between them.
On December 25, an average of 21.9 million people tuned into three NFL games (Raiders vs. Chiefs, Ravens vs. 49ers, and Giants vs. Eagles). At the same time, three of the NBA’s five Christmas Day games (Bucks vs. Knicks, Warriors vs. Nuggets, Celtics vs. Lakers, 76ers vs. Heat, and Mavericks vs. Suns) pulled an average of only 4.3 million viewers.
“Numbers don’t lie…[The] NFL gets more viewers in one game than [the] NBA gets in five games combined,” Bet-David wrote in an X post on Wednesday. “That’s embarrassing.”
Numbers don’t lie.
The current NBA regular season product absolutely sucks.
NFL gets more viewers in one game than NBA gets in 5 games combined.
That’s embarrassing. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/zh7XezDkSf
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) December 27, 2023
However, this assessment quickly ran afoul of George Karl, a legendary NBA hall-of-fame coach who played for the San Antonio Spurs and subsequently coached nine different teams across three separate basketball leagues.
“Here’s a couple other stats for you,” Karl wrote back, taking a shot at the performance of Major League Baseball in the process. “450 million play basketball around the world and that number is skyrocketing while 5 million play American football and that number is plummeting.”
“Numbers don’t lie!”
Here’s a couple other stats for you (btw as an MLB owner, your product sucks worse than any major sport):
450M play basketball around the world and that number is skyrocketing while 5M play American football and that number is plummeting.
Numbers don’t lie! https://t.co/31FHBQ5Pdo
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) December 28, 2023
But in a promised rebuttal, Bet-David laid out the full data behind the numbers, challenging Karl’s “weak argument” and attributing the NBA’s international successes to its Chinese audience.
Below is a respectful assessment from Patrick Bet-David explaining how the NBA lost half of America:
NFL and NBA viewership numbers from Christmas Day games just a few days ago:
- NFL (via @mysportsupdate):
- Raiders-Chiefs: 29.17M
- Giants-Eagles: 29.02M
- Ravens-49ers: 27.23M
- NBA (via @sportsrapport):
- Bucks-Knicks: 2.5M
- Warriors-Nuggets: 4.1M
- Celtics-Lakers: 5.0M
- 76ers-Heat: 1.3M
- Mavericks-Suns: 1.5m
The worst NFL game on Christmas Day got more than twice as many viewers as all the NBA games combined. The Ravens vs the 49ers got 27.23 million, and all five NBA games only pulled 14.4 million.
One NFL game got two times the viewers of five NBA Games!?!? That’s embarrassing, to say the least.
Now, the counterargument will be that the NBA is more popular worldwide than the NFL. That’s probably true because of what Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, and others did to help with that.
The NFL is now playing internationally — and the new fans love it. But the truth is that the NFL has work to do internationally, which I agree with.
But here’s the bigger issue: the NBA has lost 50 percent of viewers in the last decade in the country the game was founded in.
It’s quite pathetic to go to other countries to convince advertisers that it’s worth more to pay to be sponsors. I understand sales, but American companies will be asking for real data when advertising. As a possible sponsor, I want to know how many eyeballs you’re getting in America, not in CHINA.
Let’s compare NFL to NBA total viewership per game in 2022:
- NFL: 21.9m views
- NBA: 4.3m views
If you continue with the math:
The NBA plays 82 regular season games. 82 x 4.3m = 352.6m total views
The NFL plays ONLY 17 games. 17 x 21.9m = 372.3m total views
This means that the NFL gets more eyeballs in 17 games than NBA does in 82.
That’s like a basketball player taking 17 shots and scoring more points than an opponent who took 82 shots. 🤔
Even Commissioner Adam Silver had to address the decline in viewership, saying “the decline of cable has disproportionately impacted the NBA.”
That could be a valid reason … but why hasn’t the same happened to the NFL? Sounds more like an excuse to me.
The only NBA rating that has increased is the show “NBA on TNT.” I’d much rather watch Shaq, Barkley, Kenny, and Ernie banter than watch the actual game.
Next, let’s look at revenue by sport in 2022: the NFL made $17 billion, MLB made $10.5 billion, the NBA made $9.6 billion, the NHL made $4.9 billion, and MLS made $1.5 billion.
I know Coach Karl was curious for MLB, so hopefully that gives some insight.
I will say MLB has work to do to make the game more exciting. It’s the reason why I got involved.
I love the game. I love America. To me, baseball is a spiritual game and it represents American history.
Now, here are some of the reasons why I believe we got here:
1. Every league has to decide who their number 1 customer is.
In the leagues that do well, their number-one customer is the fan. But the NBA’s number one customer is the player. That’s a terrible mindset. It’s caused many players to be entitled.
That’s not their fault; it’s the league’s fault.
2. NBA contracts protect players more than they protect owners & fans
When Karl was coaching in the ’80s and ’90s, it was more common for players to play the entire season.
The mindset was to play even when hurt — and this is when conditioning wasn’t at the level of advancement we have today.
How is it that with better conditioning, better doctors, better data, and better technology, players seem to be more hurt than before?
Is it that the league is more aggressive and tougher today than it was during the ’80s in the era of the Pistons/Celtics/76ers, or the ’90s Knicks? No way. How many hard fouls in paint during that era would be Flagrant-1 today?
I’m sure Karl, who started coaching in the NBA in 1978 and won 1,175 games, knows exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s ok for players to take a day or two off to recoup from whatever excuse they give fans, be it anxiety, mental health days, or broken hearts. But NBA owners are forced to defend these players because, God forbid, if owners disagree, the player can ask to be traded.
Also, for whatever reason, NBA players tend to get hurt way more than NFL players do.
Meanwhile, NFL players get destroyed in a game and still find ways to play.
In the NBA, if one of the superstars got offended in a game, they’ll be expected to take a mental game to recover.
NFL fans are tough, direct, cold, and constant; NBA fans are slowly being silenced and being kicked out for saying something one tenth as offensive as what the average football fan says during a game.
3. The NBA went woke during COVID & became a 100 percent political organization
Basketball used to be just a game with no politics. Watching it was just about enjoying the game.
In the past, the NBA was filled with both Republicans and Democrats, but no one cared or was judged. We watched because of how amazing the game was/is.
But between 2016 and the COVID pandemic, the league went woke.
When Lebron James, the face of the NBA, disrespected police officer Nicholas Reardon with a tweet saying “You’re next. ACCOUNTABILITY” and then deleted it…what did the league do to him?
Nothing!
The league sided with a player who went after a police officer publicly and the player was not held accountable.
Respecting police officers isn’t a Democrat or Republican thing; it’s an America thing. That was embarrassing.
Say what you want about former NBA commissioner David Stern, but I believe he would’ve handled it in a different way.
But again, today’s NBA fears players.
It’s not as if Lebron was an 18-year-old rookie who made a mistake. He was a grown 35-year-old man who was the face of the league and KNOWS how to work with and through the media.
Keep in mind, I’m NOT an NFL owner, so what would be my motive for defending the NFL? Zero!
This is about how bad the NBA product is TODAY!
And NBA owners are forced to defend because God forbid if owners disagree, the player can ask to be traded.
Also for whatever reason, NBA players tend to get hurt way more than NFL players do.
Meanwhile, NFL players get destroyed in a game and still find ways to play hurt.…
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) December 28, 2023
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