Has there ever been a greater time to be a sports fan? You could say the same about being a fan of entertaining programming in general. For all the complaints about having too many options, the abundance is actually a blessing. Every niche and micro-niche has something available. The challenge now isn’t access — it’s attention. With limited time, deciding what to watch has become harder than ever. That’s the issue the NBA is facing, whether it fully recognizes it or not.
Every network, show, program, sport, and personality competes in the same daily game: capturing and keeping attention. What can I offer that grabs your eyes and locks you into my product for as long as possible? Appointment viewing has largely disappeared in modern media, except in one powerful case — live sports.
And that’s exactly what recent load management and tanking discussions across sports media are missing.
Far too often, an NBA game feels more TBA than must-see. Teams have never driven interest in a league built on athleticism and personality. Stars do. Lately, however, the main characters have been missing from the screenplay too often, leading even the most plugged-in fans to tune out.
There may not be a bigger NBA fan on sports radio than Dan Patrick. He has followed the league for nearly six decades. He has covered it extensively, interviewed its biggest stars, and delivered its stories to a global audience.
On Wednesday’s program, Dan Patrick told the NBA he’s out.
“Is Trae Young playing? This is a guy who was averaged 27 and 10. I don’t know. After a while, if they’re not playing, I’m not watching. And you’ve got to win me back,” said Patrick about his disgust with the load management approach that NBA teams have adopted in recent years. “I don’t know what the commissioner can do. We’ve been down this road. We’re going to continue to go down this road. The regular season doesn’t mean anything,”
Load management isn’t new. It has remained one of the NBA’s most debated and least understood issues for more than a decade. Teams argue that it preserves their most important players for the season’s biggest moments. Fans who invest time and money, however, often see it differently.
The league attempted to address the issue in 2023, yet even with new guidelines in place, frustration persists among fans and media members alike. Attendance doesn’t suggest a crisis. Last season marked the NBA’s second-highest attendance total ever, and there are no clear signs that turnstile numbers have slowed.
Viewership, however, presents a more complicated picture.
This season benefits from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement, making year-over-year comparisons tricky. Last year’s regular-season viewership dipped 2 percent overall. This year, under the new measurement model, ESPN reports a 35 percent increase through the first 21 games before Christmas.
Did 35 percent more people suddenly decide to watch NBA games? Or does the measurement shift tell part of that story? A glance at NFL regular-season numbers shows similar benefits from the updated system.
Where load management could have its greatest impact isn’t necessarily attendance or ratings. It’s conversation.
Sports television, radio, and podcasts depend on star players and the storylines surrounding them. Coverage thrives when the best are on the court. Without them, the daily content machine loses fuel. The broader sports audience loses urgency.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity — only publicity. And conversations are always more compelling when stars drive them. If sports talk royalty like Dan Patrick feels disengaged and says he needs to be won back, that should resonate inside the NBA’s executive offices.
It’s not just Patrick that’s using their megaphones to shout their warning to the NBA. ESPN New York’s Michael Kay referenced the league not addressing the issue as a disservice to it’s network partners.
“They’re not going to get the same audience. Same thing with Amazon. Same thing with NBC. When those guys go to Adam Silver and go, ‘This is nonsense. We paid for your product, not for people sitting on the bench,’” said Kay on Wednesday.
The point is simple. Play the game, and do your job. When stars sit, there’s little to hook interest. If the regular season continues to lose steam because of load management, when does the breaking point arrive for the league and the players union?
NBA players earn paychecks just like their most loyal fans. Most fans can’t take days off work for “load management.” They also don’t have access to specialized training staffs, personal chefs, or elite recovery resources. Fair or not, the optics matter. When the biggest names are in street clothes instead of jerseys, perception takes a hit.
Fans spend money to see a product. They invest time hoping a star will shine. The question isn’t whether players need rest. The question is how often uncertainty can creep in before urgency disappears.
The NBA doesn’t have an attendance problem. It doesn’t have a talent problem or even have a measurement problem.
It has a perception problem.
And perception is reality in the attention economy.
Sports remain the last true appointment viewing experience. That’s their superpower. When fans circle a date, buy tickets weeks in advance, clear their schedules, or tune into a national broadcast, they aren’t investing in depth pieces. They’re investing in stars, certainty, and the belief that when the lights come on, the main characters will be on stage.
If that certainty fades, so does urgency.
Leagues can survive temporary ratings dips and negative media cycles. What they can’t survive is indifference. Indifference creeps in when fans start asking, “Is he playing?” before they ask, “What time is tipoff?”
The NFL doesn’t dominate because every game is flawless. It dominates because when Sunday arrives, fans expect the stars to show up unless something is truly wrong. That reliability builds habit. Habit builds conversation. Conversation builds culture.
The NBA has built a global brand on personality, athleticism, and star power. But brands rarely collapse overnight. They erode gradually — one rest night, one shrug, one disappointed fan at a time.
In an era overflowing with viewing options, the league cannot afford to make itself optional.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
