NBA Christmas Day 2011: David Stern Should Make Late Start to Season Permanent
If there's anything David Stern should learn from the excitement surrounding Sunday's Christmas debut, it's that the NBA is better off starting later and playing fewer games per season.
Opening Presents (and Seasons) on Christmas Day
Christmas Day has long been the unofficial start of the season, at least for the casual fans who the league is constantly trying to court. Diehard hoops heads will tune in whenever and wherever the NBA tips off its season.
It's the day the NBA rolls out its most thrilling slate of matchups, this year in a back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back format across three different TV networks. Nearly every one of the league's superstars—including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard—will be on full, glorious display for all the world to see.
And if a slate like that could generate this sort of buzz after a prolonged lockout, just imagine the sort of excitement that would come from a Christmas Day start as part of the normal schedule.
As far as major professional sports leagues are concerned, the NBA practically owns Christmas and always has. Heck, even the NFL, which normally controls Sundays in the fall and winter with an iron fist, knew better than to mess with the NBA on Christmas this year, choosing instead to schedule the bulk of its games on Christmas Eve and leave only the Sunday night and Monday night games intact.
The NBA, then, should maximize the opportunity that comes with having what amounts to a captive audience and meld its two biggest days of the early season into one fan-trapping basketball bonanza.
Less is More
And while they're at it, the folks at the league office should consider another logical extension from all of this madness—shortening the season.
I know, I know, playing fewer than 82 games is blasphemous and that's what the NBA schedule has always been like and blah blah blah.
But let's be real here, folks. Again, those who eat, breathe and sleep NBA basketball will watch any number of games put out there.
Unfortunately, most of the league's fans aren't even half as enthusiastic as those who keep a tab open with the NBA League Pass and comb through box scores in search of fantasy gems.
Rather, the bulk of the league's target audience doesn't give two hoots about most of November and December, tune in a bit on Christmas and start paying attention again once the playoffs roll around.
From a purely business perspective, creating scarcity by paring down the schedule to, say, 70 or 72 games would make each game at least a bit more meaningful for those fans willing and able to open up their pocketbooks for tickets.
Especially since fewer games would likely result in greater quality of play during the season. Of course, fans are bound to see some terrible basketball this season with teams playing back-to-back-to-backs and seven games in 10 days after having had but two weeks of a preseason to prepare for a 66-game schedule.
All the league would need to do in the future, though, is tack on an extra few weeks across which to space out the existing games. Playing three games in four nights or four games in five nights, as was always the case before, was never conducive to a product that was crisp and fun to watch. Rather, the logistics of the schedule would too often get in the way of good basketball, forcing teams to play sloppy basketball on tired legs while wearing down the longevity of the league's biggest stars.
Fewer games and more rest, then, would allow the players to give it their all every time out rather than having to conserve their energy, for fear of hitting a wall too soon.
And if the prospect of losing a balanced schedule is scary, it shouldn't be. Even the 82-game schedule hasn't prevented the demise of the four-game series between teams in the same conference, with some having to revert to three games against one another.
All told, if the NBA really wants to give fans of every ilk something to get excited about on Christmas Day, it should consider starting later and playing fewer games.
