Nostalgia Sales
The Spurs have been busy being sick (Pop) or injured (Others) and have tried to get you to the game by selling the past. “It’s Dave Robinson night!” on December 2nd. According to the box score there were 13,097 people in attendance. It was tough, as the Spurs were competing with UTSA hosting the CUSA Championship game at the Alamodome, where 41,412 were in their seats. (I was also there)
Coming up on the 13th, it is Tim Duncan bobblehead night. More of the past.
While there is nothing wrong with celebrating the accomplishments, that is all the Spurs have at the moment. We know this was going to be a rough season. We know there was going to be a lot of losses. Getting trounced by 40 is not the hopeful kind of program-building that anyone wanted to endure, however.
The NBA has a long season because it was formed when the primary revenue driver was attendance. To maximize revenue, you had a lot of games (MLB, NHL, also have this issue). The value of a given NBA game is small, and becoming smaller as our entertainment options explode.
Putting out a bad team in the hope of eventually getting a good team is rough, but understandable. The alternative is putting out a middling team that doesn’t excite the casuals.
I feel for the people selling tickets. The Spurs are not super interesting right now because they have to lose to get a good player. The whole thing is clearly evidence of a bad business model. Imagine going to see a play but they are intentionally awful so they can attract a good actor so they can eventually put on some good entertainment. It is back-asswords.
There is some kind of reckoning coming for someone related to the league. I love some basketball but the revenue models do not fit the way they did right now. The Warner guy is talking about changing the relationship with the NBA to make it “fit for both of us”. Players expect the revenue to climb, and owners expect the values to rise.
This all while the RSNs (Bally, etc) are losing money and fewer people (especially young people) watch on television. The answer, everyone screams, is streaming. Streaming does not make money like the old linear television model does. Disney+ is still losing money, HBO Max is not as profitable as regular old HBO, and ESPN+ is a loss-leader so ESPN can hedge its bets when cable finally implodes. (I know ESPN is owned by Disney).
Sports are not sacrosanct. They are entertainment, just like movies and television and music. If you hadn’t noticed, those businesses have undergone radical change in the last two decades. Sports, by virtue of being live, are still extremely valuable, but only as much as people care. While markers love 20-34 year olds, the people with money have grey and white hairs, folks.
Now you know why they are trying to sell you on the good times in 1999.