NBA announced 170 million people in the U.S. watched NBA most in 24 years and up 86% vs. last season. But the claims that the NBA is dying are running rampant in the sports community, and sometimes pushed by prominent names in the NBA.
The NBA secured an 11-year, \(76 billion TV deal (\)6.91 billion per year), a jump from the \(24 billion, 9-year deal (\)2.67 billion per year) signed in 2014.
This puts the NBA (\(6.91B/year) second only to the NFL (\)10B/year) in total media value, while far obliterating MLB (\(1.9B/year) and the NHL (\)625M/year).
Despite these numbers, we constantly hear from casual fans and even some sports journalists that the NBA product is dying or that leagues like MLB and the NHL are overtaking it.
If these claims are true, why would multi-billion dollar media conglomerates spend this much money on a dying product? Do these journalists have better insights than the massive corporations that are actually spending the money ? If not, who benefits from pushing this narrative?