NBA Ratings Crash after BLM Protests

The NBA’s ratings continue to crater, after many players, coaches and referees took a knee during the national anthem and wear “black lives matter” shirts in its official restart.

As for the opening games, Outkick reported that the return of the NBA on TNT saw the following numbers:

Lakers-Clippers: 3.4 million
Pelicans-Jazz: 2.1 million

To compare these numbers, in May, a celebrity golf event dubbed “The Match II,” featuring Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods peaked at a whopping 6.3 million viewers and raised more than $20 million for charity.

According to The Sports Rush:

All NBA players, coaching staff and referees (barring a few exceptions) have taken a knee during the national anthem before the game. The move has been seen as a way to spread awareness about the Black Lives Matter movement.

However, a lot of fans feel that kneeling during the national anthem is an utter disrespect to the government and the military that protects the country.

Hence, a large section of the fans have asked to boycott the NBA, for promoting a ‘political’ agenda, when all it should be doing is, sticking to the sport.

The NBA has come up with multiple ways to maximise spreading the message against racial discrimination. Both the players and administrators have constantly voiced their opinions about the discrimination that has been taking place against coloured communities. They have also come up with multiple methods to increase awareness on this subject.

During the NBA 2020 restart, many of the players opted to have a word or a message written on the back of their jerseys. The teams and players also kneeled during the national anthem during the restart.