The NBA and MLB players couldn’t help themselves and despite having a nationwide captive audience the overpaid athletes came up short where it matters – in the ratings.
The ratings for the much-awaited return of sports are in and have been lackluster and many are saying it is because of the protests.
Charles Barkley warned these guys that if they make it too political people will stop watching as sports are a break from all the usual noise. The people have spoken, at least for now.
From Breitbart:
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 mocked the 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.
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.”
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
