Some of the nation quietly watched the NBA All-Star game over the weekend, which also rolled out a new format that some of the players weren’t in agreement with.
The Master of Ceremonies was none other than comedian Kevin Hart, who on several occasions echoed the displeasure Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley have been saying for years on Inside the NBA on TNT, “3-point shooting is ruining the game of basketball.”
While critics have shown their displeasure with how the game is being played today compared to how it was played in the 80’s, 90’s and even the early 2000’s, the viewership has been on steady decline, while attendance has seen an uptick mostly due to the NBA’s social media presence. Some note that the decline is impart due to the switch to games being featured on streaming apps.
Viewership is slightly up this season from last season but still lower than the previous 20 season before the 2024-25 season.
Sunday’s game had its fair share of entertaining moments but the writing is on the wall, and fans are just not tuning in to games anymore, including the All-Star weekend.
The other sports league who’s seen a decline in viewership also changed their format to their ‘All-Star,’ week in the NHL. The new format has changed the name to 4 Nations Face-Off, which features teams from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden, who all play in round-robin format followed by the top two teams in the Final.
This year, the Canadians and the United States will face-off in the Final game after a contentious game late last week that included three fights in the first nine seconds. Many believe the fights were a result of a hale of boos that rained down during the U.S. National Anthem at Bell Centre in Montreal.
This week the Canadians and Americans will face-off on Thursday night at TD Garden in Boston where fans will likely reciprocate the gesture, which would make for an interesting matchup for the Final.
While the boos have nothing to do with the game itself but Canadians showing their displeasure for the series of events that have taken place across the political arena in recent weeks.
Thursday nights game is scheduled for Thursday night at 7 p.m. MST.
