Mark Cuban Contrasts NBA Growth vs NFL Demise cites Pats players

[Bill Lee]

NCAA football - all collegiate major team sports, really - are also entirely driven by the major corporations that own the broadcast sports media outlets. The shareholders of those corporations are the only folks making serious coin off college and pro football (while most colleges struggle not to lose money providing the "product"). So, yeah, it's all a business.

The primary concerns of corporate shareholders are quarterly earnings reports and dividends, an extremely short-term perspective that virtually excludes any long-view analysis.

I agree 100% about what could/should be done to ensure future quality. However, for the folks in the financial driver's seat, the cost of investing in the long term health of this particular golden goose is off the table. If this goose dies, they'll just find another one. At least, they think they will.

Agree 100%.

One thing I picked up on earlier in the thread was:

Like/Dislike the NBA or basketball as a whole, what is clear is television ratings are going through the roof at a faster pace than the NFL.

With the that said more people still watch the NFL and its not close.

NBA’s national television ratings up 32 percent from last season, per Nielsen

As NFL ratings drop, ESPN's NBA viewership is up 24 percent this season

The business world is more focused on the rate of change (first derivative) and the rate of the rate of change (second derivative) more than the absolute value.

We could indeed see NFL having a hard time getting similar media deals in the future, IMHO.

 

[Bill Lee]

Personally, I just can't get into it. At least with hockey ( goals), football ( td's; turnovers); Baseball ( Home runs), there is the anticipation something big could happen. In Basketbsll, a guy puts the ball through the hoops every thirty seconds or so. There's no anticipation of something big happening until the end. That's just the way I look at the game. I fully acknowledge that the NBA is more popular and global than most sports. Ratings are high and attendance is up. Again, it's just a personal opinion.

As for the NFL, I agree that it has taken a hit. This season has been the most boring in a long time.

I'm not a big bball watcher either, but if this is what you think is going on, you're not paying enough attention. The Celts for instance have been really good at coming from behind this season, not by 4 points, but by 17-18 points several times. Scoring every possession is far from guaranteed.

My main criticism of the other leagues is that the regular season doesn't matter much if at all. Dear old Roger has been trying to make the same mistake by expanding the regular season and letting more teams into the playoffs. Fortunately so far he's been held off by the players and the public. My bet is that he's saving that move for the next lockout err contract negotiation. He'll have something in his hands that the players want, and they'll give it up to him, and the players and the fans will suffer.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Agree 100%.

One thing I picked up on earlier in the thread was:


The business world is more focused on the rate of change (first derivative) and the rate of the rate of change (second derivative) more than the absolute value.

We could indeed see NFL having a hard time getting similar media deals in the future, IMHO.

Exactly. A stagnant, mature market is not attractive.

It is a real possibility the TV deals they enjoy today might shrink a little.

 

[maineman209]

Agree 100%.

One thing I picked up on earlier in the thread was:


The business world is more focused on the rate of change (first derivative) and the rate of the rate of change (second derivative) more than the absolute value.

We could indeed see NFL having a hard time getting similar media deals in the future, IMHO.

This focus very often induces hideously bad management decisions that destroy a company's unique value and future viability. I've seen this from the inside. We used to call it, "burning the ties from the tracks ahead to make the train accelerate faster this quarter."

 

[DarrylS]

Exactly. A stagnant, mature market is not attractive.

It is a real possibility the TV deals they enjoy today might shrink a little.

All of network tv is trending toward a "stagnant, mature market"... ratings in general are lower and advertisers need to assess how to maximize their investment.. people who watch the most TV are older, for example retired seniors watch about 50 hours a week and young folks watch about 22 hours per week..

Read some articles as this peaked my interest, and found that a lot of younger folks are not even getting cable instead searching for alternatives to watch programs..

Amazon Prime, for example allows a viewer to watch Thursday nite football live... imo there is not need to subscribe to an expensive sports package that includes the NFL Channel..

 

[RobertWeathers]

All of network tv is trending toward a "stagnant, mature market"... ratings in general are lower and advertisers need to assess how to maximize their investment.. people who watch the most TV are older, for example retired seniors watch about 50 hours a week and young folks watch about 22 hours per week..

Read some articles as this peaked my interest, and found that a lot of younger folks are not even getting cable instead searching for alternatives to watch programs..

Amazon Prime, for example allows a viewer to watch Thursday nite football live... imo there is not need to subscribe to an expensive sports package that includes the NFL Channel..

My brother in law just switched to Amazon Prime and they love it. I was over there last Sunday afternoon and I could watch any NFL game I wanted to.

 

[DarrylS]

My brother in law just switched to Amazon Prime and they love it. I was over there last Sunday afternoon and I could watch any NFL game I wanted to.

My question becomes when they do ratings do they pick up how many watch on Amazon Prime or other venues???

 

[RobertWeathers]

My question becomes when they do ratings do they pick up how many watch on Amazon Prime or other venues???

Don't know. The software architecture can track requests, connections , etc. Not sure if they merge that data with the whole Nielsen system.

It's a very important question the NFL needs an answer to for sure.

 

[Bill Lee]

My brother in law just switched to Amazon Prime and they love it. I was over there last Sunday afternoon and I could watch any NFL game I wanted to.

Amazon Prime does not give you access to any NFL game you could want to watch. It could be that an Amazon Fire TV device was loaded with software such as Kodi that lets you access illegal streams, or it could be that the same device was used to load an app such as DirectTV's app that lets you access the NFL via a paid subscription.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Amazon Prime does not give you access to any NFL game you could want to watch. It could be that an Amazon Fire TV device was loaded with software such as Kodi that lets you access illegal streams, or it could be that the same device was used to load an app such as DirectTV's app that lets you access the NFL via a paid subscription.

Yes - he has Fire. I misspoke. He's a techie so I'm sure he has that. When I was flipping through the "stations" you could watch anything. Food Network, MTV, etc

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I will add a contrarian view here and that is the fact that I love Patriots football and Red Sox baseball however rarely watch basketball at all. All of the above take too long to watch. I may have a football game on with other teams playing but it is only background noise and I rarely watch for more than a few minutes.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Maybe the NBA is growing as a whole. That said, I haven't watched a minute of the NBA in five years. If the game starts at 7, just turn it on at 9:40 to see how your team's performing. What will you miss? A bunch of dudes running back and forth putting balls through a hoop.

Nailed it

 

[rochrist]

Pretty sure that the Amazon Fire tv also supports getting the NFL package.

 

[rochrist]

Amazon Prime does not give you access to any NFL game you could want to watch. It could be that an Amazon Fire TV device was loaded with software such as Kodi that lets you access illegal streams, or it could be that the same device was used to load an app such as DirectTV's app that lets you access the NFL via a paid subscription.

That's incorrect. Amazon Prime most definitely carries the Thursday night games.

https://tinyurl.com/yczos9cx

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

He was responding to ANY NFL game

 

[Bill Lee]

Amazon Prime does not give you access to any NFL game you could want to watch. It could be that an Amazon Fire TV device was loaded with software such as Kodi that lets you access illegal streams, or it could be that the same device was used to load an app such as DirectTV's app that lets you access the NFL via a paid subscription.

That's incorrect. Amazon Prime most definitely carries the Thursday night games.

https://tinyurl.com/yczos9cx

True, Prime has access to TNF games, but that's not what I wrote.

 

[SalemPats]

I'm a fan of the NBA, but i like the team aspect of the NFL and the fact that every game means something. NBA doesn't start until Jan for me.

The league is very top heavy, by mid-season 25% of the league is out of it.

I'll watch a Jags/Houston game but a Brooklyn/Suns game is tough

 

[SalemPats]

Not if they're better at football than they are at basketball. Education within that demographic isn't exactly great either. You're not talking about a bunch of Harvard or Yale grads. They might not know as much about CTE as the average PatsFans.com poster, for example.

Agreed and also it's nearly impossible to make it in basketball. You have to have some physical tools that the everyday person doesn't have. You look at the draft and the amount of players who make it short or long-term is really not that much.

 

[Kontradiction]

Pretty sure that the Amazon Fire tv also supports getting the NFL package.

It does.

 

[borg]

We could indeed see NFL having a hard time getting similar media deals in the future, IMHO.

I came upon a piece of information that may only interest me, but it provides some insight into the changing landscape of how we access media content:
'Sound stage occupancy in California is at 96% capacity'
While Networks continue to create content to fill the same defined time slots season after season, TV/movie production is booming at unprecedented levels thanks to the digital age and its creators. Amazon, Apple, Netflix, HULU, etc,etc,etc.
A few thoughts come to mind when looking at this type of data point:
1) There is a mad scramble for content
2) Success is measured by ratings wins
3) Advertisers are most willing to pay premium rates
4) Ratings wins can be guaranteed
In other words, Networks will continue to pay exorbitant rates for sports content because it preserves their dominance.
The fiasco at ESPN is less about them overpaying for premium sports content and more about their failures to recognize the changing dynamics of their business model.