Sport Adam Silver: No data ‘Black Lives Matter’ on court hurt NBA ratings

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The NBA purposefully made social justice central to its restart at Disney World. The league put social-justice messages on jerseys, allowed players to kneel during the national anthem despite a longstanding rule requiring them to stand and – perhaps most controversially – put “BLACK LIVES MATTER” on the court.

Also: Ratings were down.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, via Bomani Jones of GQ:

Now, some people might suggest that the words Black Lives Matter are causing massive amounts of people to tune out the NBA. There’s absolutely no data to support that. And in fact, as I said, there’s no doubt there are some people—and whether or not they were truly our fans to begin with is unclear—who have become further engaged with the league because they believe in our players and they believe in the positions they’ve taken, even if they don’t agree with everything they say. They respect their right to speak out on issues that are important to them.

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“Not every owner in the NBA was enthusiastic about having ‘ Black Lives Matter ’ on the court . What’s more impressive is the consensus-building Adam Silver went a little David Stern and told the owners how it would be. How some of the owners will react to the more concrete steps the players

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Silver is absolutely right to point out that some fans have become more engaged because of the NBA’s political action. That group of people is far too often ignored. People complaining about the league’s politics are far louder and more listened to.

Ratings were down, but for numerous reasons – including cord cutting, increased viewing options, coronavirus altering the sports calendar and a diluted product.

That said, if Silver thought putting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” on the court only made some fans more engaged and no significant number of fans tune out, why is the league taking the message off the floor next season?

Silver during the NBA Finals, via ESPN:

In terms of the messages you see on the court, on our jerseys, this was an extraordinary moment in time, when we began discussions with players and what we lived through this summer. My sense is there will be somewhat a sort of return to normalcy, that those messages will largely be left to be delivered off the floor. And I understand those people who are saying, “I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game.”

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NBA Orlando Bubble Court Revealed ' Black Lives Matter ,' Distanced Benches. Here is the NBA restart court in Orlando: the spaced out chairs are the socially distanced bench, Black Of course, commish Adam Silver previously suggested banning several coaches -- including Mike D'Antoni (69)

Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American businessman, lawyer and sports executive who is the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association ( NBA ). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the league

Do people who respond to the NBA’s social-justice push with “I want to watch a basketball game” exist at significant numbers or not? Silver can’t seem to decide.

Maybe there’s a narrow middle ground – that people welcomed the social-justice messaging during last summer’s protest movement but won’t continue to embrace it as time elapses since George Floyd’s death, that some people reluctantly tolerated it but won’t continue to do so for multiple seasons.

That’s a narrow needle to thread, though.

Adam Silver: No data ‘Black Lives Matter’ on court hurt NBA ratings originally appeared on NBCSports.com