Ratings Crash for NBA, MLB After Debuts Dominated by Black Lives Matter Protests
TV viewers not interest in opinions of 'woke' multimillionaire sports stars
© press
The NBA and MLB saw their TV ratings crash during the recent returns after their debuts were dominated by radical-left Black Lives Matter protests.
The leagues have been returning to screens following the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus.
For their opening games, both baseball and basketball were draped in Black Lives Matter logos, slogans, and other social justice symbolism.
However, it appears that TV viewers are not interested in the "woke" opinions of multimillionaire sports stars.
Subsequently, a substantially smaller number of sports fans tuned-in to the rest of the week’s games.
Neither league did well, according to Outkick.com figures.
© press
As for the opening games, Outkick reported that the return of the NBA on TNT saw the following numbers:
- Lakers-Clippers: 3.4 million
- Pelicans-Jazz: 2.1 million
ESPN’s MLB return numbers were also underwhelming:
- Yankees-Nationals: 4.0 million
- Dodgers-Giants: 2.8 million
Outkick’s Ryan Glasspiegel added more ratings numbers on Twitter.
“To be fair since I compared MLB vs NBA return night 1, here is night 2,” (July 24) he wrote, adding:
- MLB (last Friday, ESPN)
- Mets-Braves (4p) – 922K
- Brewers-Cubs(7p) – 1.0M
- Angels-As (10p) – 797K
- NBA (last night ESPN) (July 31)
- Celtics-Bucks (6:30p) – 1.3M
- Mavs-Rockets (9p)- 1.7M
The Athletic’s Ethan Strauss also noted that the numbers continued to fall off for MLB:
MLB really fell off after opening day. In general, both leagues aren't getting the audience one might expect from a nation that's been deprived of entertainment for months https://t.co/GazeoR9SNB
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) August 2, 2020
For good measure, Strauss also pointed out that baseball can’t blame the coronavirus.
The virus didn’t stop people from watching Tom Brady golf with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson back in May.
You could chalk sagging interest up to pandemic conditions, but 5.8 million tuned in to watch Tom Brady hit golf shots into the woods https://t.co/vIPxNc1uDi
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) August 2, 2020
Indeed, the charity golf match earned record TV ratings in May.
Dubbed “The Match II,” the game featuring Tom Brady, Phil Mickelson, Peyton Manning, and Tiger Woods peaked at an amazing 6.3 million viewers and raised more than $20 million for charity.
© press
Meanwhile, at three of the first NHL exhibition games played last week, not a single player "took the knee" for Black Lives Matter during the national anthem.
The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins bucked the trends in other professional sports and all stood for the anthem on Tuesday.
“The Penguins and Flyers, two of the fiercest rivals in sports, united in solidarity this afternoon, to stand up against social injustice, racism, and hate,” the Penguins said in a post.
“The teams stood as one across each club’s respective blue lines prior to today’s game.”
The players had decided to make a stand against racism in their own way without submitting to the radical-left BLM organization.
