The NBA is projected to become the most popular sports league in America. They already have the best outreach worldwide. The NBA has long been considered to be very good at reaching out to new markets. In other words, they're the best at engaging the groundswell.
One of the ways the NBA has aimed to engage the groundswell is through the all-star game. The all-star game is a match where all the best players in the league assemble to play each other on two teams during the middle of the season. Every major American sports league has an all-star game. Unfortunately, the ratings for these events have been on the decline for all leagues in recent years. As a result, the NBA sought out the groundswell.
The NBA allows fans to vote for the starters in the all-star game (10 total). The rest of the players are voted in by coaches. Naturally, the process was meant to engage us fans more in the process. A couple years ago, they even introduced a feature where you can vote via a hashtag. It's as easy as typing myfavorite player #NBAballot on social media. They wanted to keep our attention.You would expect the best ten players to be voted in, wouldn't you?
Well, that's not what's happened. The NBA failed to anticipate that a voting process would land the most popular players in the game, not necessarily the best. Throughout the early 2000s, Yao Ming dominated all-star voting. He was pretty good. The general consensus though, is that he wasn't nearly as good as his vote totals would suggest. Many thought he was taking an all-star spot from better players.
Things got even testier when Jeremy Lin started to dominate all-star voting. Yao was, at least, among the top players in the league. Jeremy Lin just had a couple of good games.
What gives? Well, the NBA has been trying to engage the groundswell abroad. One place where the league has really taken off: China. What country has the largest population in the world? China. The NBA is in a bind all of the sudden. What should they do? On the one hand, your base, the American fans, are upset that the best talent isn't represented. On the other hand, your new market has spoken. They want to see representation in the game. So how do you please both at once?
The NBA stood its ground for a long time. Until Zaza. Last year, Zaza Pachulia (now playing for my hometown Warriors), this guy, was almost voted in to the all star game.
The issue, is that he beat this guy (Kawhi Leonard) in voting:
That was when the NBA had enough. Zaza was getting incredible support from his home country Georgia (no, not the state in the south). Some people also just thought it would be funny to vote in a guy with a silly name that wasn't even that good. In response, the NBA took away power from the fans, and in turn, the groundswell. Now, fan votes account for 50% of the final tally, with the media and players sharing the other 50% of the voting power. A lot of people loved the move, as you can see below:
Is the NBA doing the right thing though? Isn't the all-star game for the fans? Sure, the best ten players may not start the game, but in theory, the ten most popular players will. To be fair, the NBA was dealing with a different kind of groundswell criticizing it for a flawed voting process.
But if we want to build a brand, as we've learned, one of the best ways to do that is to hand power over to the groundswell. Couldn't the NBA argue to the groundswell criticizing it that if they are unhappy with the participants in the game, they should exercise their voting power more? Ultimately, the all-star game has no bearing on anything else in the season. It's an exhibition game. So if the NBA wants to grow its brand, which of course it does, shouldn't it listen to the groundswell?
Sasha,
ReplyDeleteI think this was a good move by the NBA. It is important to control the quality of your brand. Just as companies can mute certain trolls, the NBA has to mute fans that are obsessed with which name is going to be funny hearing announcers struggle to pronounce or those obsessed with making sure that a person from their home country is represented. I agree that the all-star game is an exhibition, but it is an exhibition of all-stars, the best of the best, or else it doesn't make sense to call it an all star game. But, I must admit that I have my doubts that unless there is a ting of competitiveness, the NBA's all-star game may also suffer in popularity. If everyone wants an open lane to dunk, why not just join the dunk contest? I am still surprised that Westbrook did not start (that is the only hit I will take at GSW starter) - possibly a legendry season for this dude.
Sasha, I really enjoyed your post (and not just because you talked about my boy Kawhi...). I think it is really interesting to think that the All-Star game is for the fans. I agree with that they should listen to the groundswell, but as you saw there are times when popularity versus skill becomes the winner and that was not the point of the All-Star game. I think the NBA did something smart by still allowing the groundswell some say, but not completely turning it over to them. I'd rather watch the best players, not the most popular ones. I think the groundswell may be split on this one and so the NBA did a good job of handling that.
ReplyDeleteSasha, great post!The NBA has a great reach around the world and while I think listening to the groundswell is important I personally HATE fan voting. Both Baseball and Hockey have had similar issues with it in the past. Passionate fans vote in their favorite players yet some are clearly undeserving of the distinction. Although All Star games have lost a little bit of importance over the years they are still a great achievement for the players and are certainly looked at in determining future Hall of Fame status. The NBA's move to have it 50% fan vote and 50% media and players is a great way to make the voting process more meaningful.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Sasha! I did not know this about the NBA, but I agree that if the All Star games are for the fans, the fans should have a say in who is selected. The 50% 50% process is a smart compromise. This reminds me a little bit of the first chapter in which they talked about how fans influenced the content of the movie Snakes on a Plane. I haven't seen the movie but have heard it was a bad one and perhaps in part because fans were shaping it.
ReplyDelete