Something I never really understood about the NBA is why they make the regular season so grueling with so many games in a short period of time and then send the players for a half year vacation. The fans suffer from this as well. Personally I would much rather prefer to have 1 or two games a week each week for the entire year, than 3-4 games a week through out 6 to 8 months (depending on whether the team makes the playoffs).
Can someone explain the logic behind this? It seems like a lose-lose situation right now.
Yeah, I can explain this, starting with the quote underneath.
Football is back and baseball is on....
The sports seasons are separated for good reason. If they all play at the same time, that will take market value away, they can't make maximum cost with 2/3 sports going on at the same time. Why do you think All-Star Weekend (and the All-Star Game) are so popular being in February, when Super Bowl ended the month before and Spring Training Camp would start the month after?
Also, you want to talk about grueling sports? Football is a hundred times worse because of the pace they're going at (thus are forced to go once a week for the most part). Baseball, on the other hand, is less intense than basketball and can almost play games 6-7 times a week. While 4 games in 5 days/nights isn't so great, they've virtually played 70-80 games a year in the sport's entire lifetime. And it's hardly the most dangerous sport out there (though it has the most injuries, not usually fatal).
The bigger problem would be the amount of revenue that would be lost with a reduced amount of games (and not including cutting the season to 1 game a week). You may get your basketball fix, but the sport itself would suffer. Salaries worth millions, tens of millions, would no longer be feasible. It's not a problem in football because of the popularity in the country, the different rules applied to the cap, and the difference in stadium size. Basketball relies on more games, which leads to more basketball marketing (shoes, balls, advertising revenue).
Summary:
- Basketball can't go on at the same time as football/baseball
- Basketball needs more games than football, a LOT more
- Basketball needs to sell its brand (with more games)