It’s Not That We’re That Cool, It’s That the NBA Isn’t

My apologies for the lack of updates in the last 48 hours… I’ve been traveling nonstop.Well, until now, when I stopped.

So, stop me if you’ve seen the graph on your right before. Oh you have? Everywhere, you say?

Yeah, me too.

And since everyone and their pet iguana feels the need to comment on it, that’s what I am prepared to do in a reoccurring segment entitled “News We’re Obligated to Report.” It’s easy to give in to peer pressure so, what the hell, let’s do it. There aren’t any drugs or pop music involved, so it can’t be that bad to post about.

Anyway, last week the folks over at Supersonics Soul posted up the aforementioned graph on the right. It caused quite a stir in the blogosphere (Imagine that — bloggers riled up about something). The story even, eventually, found it’s way to Deadspin. I guess that’s a good barometer for how many people are riled up (i.e. a lot).

So hey, hockey is more popular than another sport. That’s news now-a-days. What with the MSM declaring us irrelevant and what not. Good times, really. I don’t really see what all the fuss is about.

OK, so the NBA isn’t doing so hot. And, as a hockey blogger, I should be happy about that?

Eh. As Lee Corso would say, ‘not so fast my friend.’

Frankly, as a hockey blogger, I don’t really care what the NBA is doing. Now I shouldn’t have my head in the sand either, but I’m not about to start some kind of victory parade. Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that my sport was, um, sitting out an entire season.

And what’s the most concerning thing about this graph? That the NHL’s attendance line hasn’t soared as much as the NBA’s has dropped. The reason we’re winning this attendance is battle is because, yeah, the NBA’s attendance has declined so sharply. Meanwhile, the NHL’s attendance is kind of puttering along. Getting a little higher here, a little lower there.

Wake me up when our average league attendance increases by 1,000 in five years. That’s what the NBA’s numbers did from 03 to 07. Now that would be something to get excited about.