If there is a professional sporting league everyone should care about in the coming years, it is the National Basketball Association. The NBA is almost seventy years old and it could not be doing any better. Last month, the NBA signed a nine-year media-rights deal worth $24 billion with ESPN and Turner Sports. The NBA is worth a lot to the general public. If someone is not a fan of this league, here are a few reasons to change their mind.
One reason the public should be interested in the NBA is the action and high scoring amounts. Unlike the NFL, the NBA does not stop after every play. Players might screw up on one end of the court, but they have to run back to the other end so they don’t mess up again. The NBA has fluidity. Like soccer, it is easier for fans to watch because players are constantly moving. From a terrific three-point shooter changing the way a defense plays to a phenomenal shot blocker changing how someone drives into the paint. Unlike soccer, NBA teams score a lot more points. Rule changes in recent years have allowed more points and non-stop action.
Another reason to like the NBA is their marketing. The NBA’s marketing potential is greater than any other professional sport league in the United States. When people think of the MLB, they think of the Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox. When people think of the NBA, they think of Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant. More easily, people associate with a person than with a team.
The NBA is like a reality show. People talk about storylines: who is creating drama on a team, who is going to be traded, and who do they relate the most to in the NBA. Other professional leagues do not have this trait going for them because there are more players on teams.
These reasons are why the NBA is a sporting league fans should become interested in. It doesn’t have the lifelong injury issues of the NFL, the boredom of the MLB and the who-the-heck-are-these-people trait of the MLB. It is a league which should be loved in the United States, and it will continue to play a bigger role within the international world.
