Sports Media Watch is reporting something interesting about the NBA. League-wide, television ratings are up, but attendance is down.
The situation for the National Basketball Association can be summed up thusly: ratings for Indiana Pacers games are up 43% on FSN Midwest, while attendance for the team is down 28%.
This pattern is repeated, though in much smaller proportions, leaguewide. NBA ratings are up on ESPN, TNT, and the majority of local broadcasts. Meanwhile, attendance throughout the league is down.
One could look at the generally good ratings as a sign of league health. However, slumping attendance could be a signal of problems for the league — even in some of the markets where the ratings have been climbing.
It’s clear that fans are watching the games at home in greater numbers. What could be causing this?
Um, I don’t know…maybe ticket prices?
Team Marketing Report puts together a Fan’s Cost Index (FCI) each year for each professional sport. The FCI is designed to determine the cost for a family of four to go to a game. It includes four average-price tickets; four small soft drinks; two small beers; four hot dogs; two game programs; parking; and two adult-size caps.
From the 2001-02 season through the 2005-06 season (the last available free data set), the NBA’s FCI rose from $244.44 to $267.37, a 9.4% rise in five seasons. While a 1.88% per season increase may not seem like much, the economy has taken a nosedive across much of the U.S. and the middle-class simply does not have as much money to spend on entertainment as they did in the ’90s.
One other cause could be the advent of high definition television. Being able to watch games in HD has made home viewing more enjoyable, shrinking the difference between watching a game live and catching it on the tube. Since many games are still unavailable on HD (and much of the U.S. still hasn’t adopted the technology) this looms as another factor that may cut into the NBA’s attendance figures in the future.
The economy is the thing. The cost to attend a game continues to trudge forward even as the league’s fans have had to tighten the belt at home.
Maybe the NBA needs to do some belt-tightening of its own.
