On July 8 on ESPN’s NBA Today show, the NBA announced an inaugural in-season tournament featuring all thirty NBA teams that was made to create more thrilling NBA games throughout the earlier regular season games. The NBA’s decision to introduce a mid-season tournament sparked lots of debate among all basketball fans. Now with the tournament over, let’s review it and show how the increase in viewership from the positive opinions of the players, the NBA’s in-season tournament can be deemed a success.
It was not just the fans who enjoyed the intensity of the tournament games, it was the players too. 82 regular season games can get boring and repetitive, and a new way to spice those games up directly leads to increased player enjoyment. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder says, “It’ll be fun to add a little bit of excitement. A different feel to the games.” By introducing a tournament and adding excitement to regular season games, the players experienced a newfound way to enjoy their game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s quote highlights the player’s eagerness to use this change. The increase in stakes creates a different feel to the games, hooking in new viewers and giving the players passion to win. The high competitiveness of the tournament games directly led to an increase in viewership. I don’t think anyone enjoys sitting through boring games that are blowouts, but with the fresh change in the importance of games, I along with other NBA fans have never been more grateful.
According to the league, the TNT network hosted a quarterfinal game featuring the Phoenix Suns and Lakers had an average viewership of 1.97 million viewers, this was 89% higher than a mid-season game between the two teams last year. The game was one the best I have ever seen, it was neck and neck and came down to the wire with a missed final shot by Kevin Durant. The increase in viewership can be attributed to the tournament games’ high stakes. With every game going big or going home, I watched almost all of the games from start to finish. Because all thirty NBA teams are in the tournament, it draws fans from every team to cheer on their team and hope that they bring home the trophy. The Phoenix Suns and Lakers quarterfinal game seen on TNT services is a perfect example. They drew in an average viewership of 1.97 million fans, which was an 89% increase from last year’s matchup. The NBA’s new tournament kept me anxious along with excitement throughout all of the games.
The benefit of the in-season tournament can be seen through the new excitement of the players, but it also increased the viewership from the fans. By drawing in fans from every team, the tournament created importance to regular season games and kept fans hooked during the sixty-seven games from start to finish. All in all, the NBA’s in-season tournament successfully brought new life to the league making games lively and attracting a huge audience.
