I remember being against the idea of a NBA team being in Oklahoma City. Especially since that team had been ripped from Seattle. It was nothing against OKC. It was only the appreciation for the Sonics franchise history.
The enthusiasm of the new host city has been refreshing, but the Thunder are still fairly new. Wake me when the honeymoon is over.
Commish David Stern supported the move. There were valid reasons for the buyout, but it felt like we were being sold… something. I wasn’t buying. If anything, why not contract that team and one other?
LeBron got flamed around Christmas-time, when he mentioned contraction, but it’s not a new idea. He’s just the biggest name to say it publicly. It’s not even a bad idea.
The numbers say that NBA on TV is as popular as it’s been in years. People who hate the league for whatever reason like to say, “Well, no one I know watches the NBA.” No one I know watches cricket, either, but tens of millions of other people do.
According to USAToday, TNT and ESPN are both headed for cable TV’s most-watched NBA seasons, averaging 1.5% of U.S. households per game. That is a lot of nobodies.
I agree with the idea of contraction in all of the major sports. The only issue would be the jobs lost at the ground level. The stadium and food workers would suffer.
Shorter seasons would help. And shorter seasons will never happen.
But two teams cut from baseball, football, and basketball would significantly raise the level of play–which is already incredible. As jaded as we can be, the things that professional athletes do on a regular basis is amazing.
The lockouts and clogged labor talks are not happening by accident. In each case, the huge amount of money at stake makes all sides involved go bonkers.
Gut Feeling: That the leagues/owners are trying so hard to vacuum up every dollar, maybe other things went untended. Americans love to be entertained, and right now the three major sports are riding relatively high. But as the leagues and owners money-grab, lie about revenue, refuse to show the very financial records that are meant to impress us… are they forgetting the fans?