Tyler Cowen, Columnist

The NBA’s Problem Is Economics, Not Basketball

It is becoming more difficult to form great teams, which makes it harder to elevate new superstars, which is what fans want.

December 18, 2024 at 4:20 PM UTC

By Tyler Cowen

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the Marginal Revolution blog.

The face of the game? — The face of the game?
Photographer: Pool/Getty Images North America

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The NBA seems to be having some trouble. This season’s TV ratings are either down precipitously or struggling to hold even, a shift too dramatic to be explained by cord-cutting alone, and meanwhile the NFL is doing fine. Tickets for the NBA Cup, the finals of which were last night (congratulations, Giannis!), went for half of what they did last year.

Part of the explanation may be that both teams are from small markets — Milwaukee and Oklahoma City — and part may be that fans have yet to figure out why they should care about this midseason tournament. The most plausible explanation, however, is economic.