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nbrazilarguments like the nba has too many thugs, is hip hop culture oriented, players wear too many tattoos, and the like are pretty superficial reasons why the nba has gone down the tube. football is highly popular in the states...and the nfl have plenty of thugs, criminals and tattooed freaks. ray caruth, pacman jones, travis henry, the entire Cincinnati bengals roster...
i think the nba has gone down in popularity due to several reasons. game play has changed quite dramatically since the early 90's...changed in negative ways. it's more half court, defense oriented...and one on one offense oriented...game styles that are hard to watch.
another thing is bad marketing and the lack of superstar players to center the game on. after jordan retired, there was (and still is) a large void to fill. No one was going to be the next jordan...but, there had to be someone who was close to him in terms of popularity and appeal. Kobe should have been the guy...but his rape trial and the shaq factor derailed any notion of him being a wildly popular player amongst most fans. Shaq could have been the guy...but, even with the movies, commercials, the recording albums and 4 world championship rings, he never quite reached the level of connection with fans bird, magic and jordan had. and tim duncan had the stats, nice guy appeal and the championships...but, not the charisma.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, the racial mixture of the league has also made fans feel more alienated to the game. In the states, the consumer base is primarily white. The NBA is predominantly black. Even some of the more successful and prominent non black guys in the league are of other countries (steve nash and canada, dirk and germany, ginobili and argentina). People like what they are familiar with. They are more accustomed to viewing things that look like them. ask a white guy who his favorite players are...and he'll likely name mainly white guys. ask a black guy who his favorite players are...and he'll likely name mainly black guys. and so on with latinos, asian, etc. Since bird, there has been no american born white player that has been anything close to being labeled a superstar. And basketball, race is even more so visceral than in baseball, hockey and football. First, there are only 10 guys on the court. Second, all the guys are wearing jerseys and shorts. You can see their faces...most of their bodies, compared to players in the other sports, can be viewed. Baseball has long pants, hats, gloves, batting helmets...football has long pants, pads, helmets.