NBA Ratings On ESPN Have Taken A Nosedive This Season

The NBA Is in freefall, and through late-November, it’s only getting worse. After years of declining television ratings, the league had hoped that 2024 would represent something of a return to form.

The second year of the NBA Cup, the debut of Bronny James, playing with his dad LeBron for the Los Angeles Lakers. The rise of Nikola Jokic and a defending champion Boston Celtics team were all seen as reasons for optimism that fan interest would improve.

Well, thus far, it’s been exactly the opposite.

Front Office Sports recently reported on ratings for NBA games on ESPN through November 21, and the results are ugly. Both for the sport and for ESPN.

The first 18 games broadcast on the network are down 28 percent, averaging just 1.772 million viewers per game. Ouch.

Front Office Sports offered readers a chance to answer why that might be happening, but as always, the answers are obvious.

Denver Nuggets C Nikola Jokic pushes Toronto Raptors wing Scottie Barnes under the basket at Scotiabank Arena. (John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images)

NBA Ratings Collapse Reflects Multitude Of Problems

The reasons for the NBA’s disastrous ratings drop are plentiful. The modern NBA game is generally seen as less appealing than decades past, and there are fewer must-see stars across the sport than there used to be.

New ideas, like the NBA Cup, have fallen flat. Rightfully seen as the contrived, desperation Hail Mary-type concepts that they are. 

Then there’s the “load management” trend, where the few star players fans want to see don’t play as often as they should. Why waste your time watching the “B” team?

And of course, the league’s open embrace of left-wing politics hasn’t helped. Half the country or more were turned off by the NBA’s progressive messaging and ideology, especially in 2020 and ensuing years. Those viewers have never come back.

Whatever the NBA is trying, it isn’t working. And for many, it’s too late to save.