For those who love the NBA, the 2023 All-Star event is always a special occasion. That’s where they see the biggest superstars compete, competing for titles like the Slam Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and especially the All-Star Game.
However, All-Star 2023 is a sad event in terms of entertainment and commercial factors. According to Sports Media Watch statistics, the All-Star Game has had a record low number of reviewers and followers in recent years.
Specifically, the rating score for the 2023 All-Star match is only 2.2 out of 5 maximum points. The number of people watching this match on the media only reached 4.59 million views. These are numbers that are significantly down compared to All-Star 2022, which scored 3.1 points and had 6.28 million recorded views.
This is the record lowest statistical score in the history of All-Star seasons, since the 1999-2000 season. Even, the number of followers of the NBA All-Star Game is lower than the two other leading American sports, baseball (MLB All-Star Game) and football (NFL’s new Pro Bowl Games). 2022.
Even the number of followers of other events also decreased sharply. Saturday’s series of events including Slam Dunk Contest, 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge only attracted 3.42 million views. Mac McClung’s presence is considered the “savior” of the Slam Dunk Contest, but it cannot exceed the NBA’s expectations.
Reasons for the boredom of NBA All-Star 2023
There are many reasons why this situation occurs. In particular, the absence of the biggest superstars has caused the attraction of the All-Star Game to decrease sharply in the eyes of fans. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Zion Williamson did not participate due to injury. Giannis Antetokoumpo appeared on the field for a “symbolic” 20 seconds and at the end of the second half, LeBron James also retired due to a hand injury.
For those watching on television, the lack of so many top stars in the tournament makes them no longer interested in watching. Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic are all big names, but their attraction is hard to compare with names that cannot appear at All-Star 2023.
Injuries of superstars and basketball “giving up” are the reasons why fans turn away from All-Star 2023
Besides, the fact that the players play without focusing on defense also makes the audience turn away from All-Star 2023. Even though it is just a performance match, fans expect an attractive, dramatic and entertaining match. fierce among the stars. That’s something the All-Star Game couldn’t do.
Even Team LeBron’s head coach, Mr. Michael Malone, even said: “This is the worst basketball game ever”, to express the boredom and defeatism of the match. “most attractive” of the 2022-2023 season.
NBA’s changing moves?
In the minds of fans, they already have deep impressions about the Slam Dunk Contest 2016 and the All-Star Game 2020. Those are historical encounters, full of drama, attraction as well as a spirit. The bloody fighting spirit that the players bring to the audience.
A rivalry between Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon or a special event to pay tribute to Kobe Bryant like in 2020 is very unlikely to happen. Therefore, the NBA needs to proactively change to avoid the boredom of the All-Star event.
Some opinions say that NBA All-Star should return to the East – West format like in 2017 and before. Those are matches that represent the whole region, with relatively good attractiveness and competition for fans. Many people even think that the winning zone will bring a reward of 4 home matches in the NBA Finals series.
Besides, increasing the prize money of events is also a way to attract the attention of stars. Currently, the reward for winning events or winning the All-Star Game is only $100,000. That is a very small amount of money compared to the tens of millions of dollars in income of the world’s top stars.
The NBA will need to change to keep the All-Star from being boring. However, balancing the appeal of the match with the typical entertainment of an All-Star match will not be an easy problem in the near future.
