David Hookstead
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The NBA might be bracing for some financial troubles.
NBA officials instructed league office staff to cut spending and limit hiring due to “economic headwinds” for the rest of the year, according to a memo from executives Kyle Cavanaugh and David Haber obtained by the New York Times.
The memo claims the NBA is “facing a very different economic reality than just one year ago. We are seeing significant challenges to achieving our revenue budget with additional downside risk still in front of us.”
The NBA previously laid people off in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the same report, but the reasons for this belt tightening have much more to do with the economy teetering on a recession.
The NBA is far from alone. Many major organizations have had to cut costs and fears ripple through the economy. Disney slashed positions, ESPN is reportedly going to cut positions left and right, the tech industry has also been hit hard and news companies such as CNN and the Washington Post are also trimming up.
Economic conditions have been far from stellar since early 2022 as the stock market has been struggling in the trenches during the Joe Biden presidency. In the past year-to-date, the S&P 500 is down more than 6%, and there’s no guaranteed light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, there’s a lot of fear out there.
Now, with massive worry of a massive recession looming, the NBA and other organizations are preparing to take massive hits.
The NBA has alienated a lot of fans.
Unlike the NFL, which doesn’t go out of its way to embrace woke ideology or social justice causes, the NBA leans into it as much as possible.
In fact, players are very vocal about issues that have nothing to do with basketball. For example, LeBron James has never found an issue he didn’t like opining on. When Daryl Morey spoke up for Hong Kong, LeBron James refused to side with freedom and instead chose to attack the First Amendment and free speech.
The Lakers star also infamously doxxed a police officer who had to shoot a teenage girl to stop her from stabbing a young girl.
Add in the BLM messaging on the courts that started in 2020 and it’s not hard to understand why fans aren’t locked in.
We’ll see how the NBA handles the potential storm on the horizon, but clearly, the league and other entities are very nervous about the economy. Hard not to be if you’re paying attention.
And their product is shit. Even if you were to put all of their political blundering aside, they are still paying B-level talent A+ level money, stars are sitting out games, most regular season games don’t mean anything, and there is no sense of cohesiveness in the league. Without Charles Barkley and Shaq’s antics there really would be no reason to pay attention to the NBA unless you are a hardcore fan. There is nothing to draw someone into the NBA, even if they like basketball
Exactly! Given the terrible product and the advocacy for woke politics, I can’t imagine any sports fan actually watching the NBA. Let’s see, David mentioned the NBA, Disney, ESPN, CNN, and the Washington Post. There is definitely a common theme. It’s taken too long, but maybe “get woke, go broke” is actually starting to take hold. Hopefully nobody is buying any Anheuser-Busch products.