The demise of the regional sports network model has been a long and arduous journey. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver believes his league has been affected the most by the decline.
During an interview with Kendall Baker of Yahoo Sports, Silver said the league views the availability of its games as a pressing concern.
“We recognize that, in some ways, the decline of cable has disproportionately impacted the NBA,” Silver said. “Our young audience isn’t subscribing to cable, and those fans aren’t finding our games.”
Silver did note that the league isn’t pressing the panic button completely, but is interested in finding ways to ensure the league is available on every viewing platform imaginable in the future.
“There are still roughly 65 million homes in America that are consuming sports in a very traditional way, and even more people on network TV. Is that declining? Yes. Is that going away anytime soon? I don’t believe so,” Silver admitted. “So we want to be on all of those platforms.”
The comments from Adam Silver come on the heels of Amazon’s reported interest in partnering with the league on a national package. The Commissioner has previously shared that he is “fascinated” by the company’s current deal with the NFL for Thursday Night Football.
