With the NBA still waiting for the green light to resume its 2019-20 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, many are pondering changes to the league’s overall structure including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who shared an interesting proposal Friday on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast.
COVID delays could push back the start of next season with many pinpointing Christmas as the logical choice for opening night. Though it’s not been a frequent occurrence, such a move would not be unprecedented as the lockout-abbreviated 2011-12 campaign also began its regular season on Christmas. Cuban, a clever entrepreneur who knows a thing or two about turning a profit, wouldn’t mind if the NBA began every year on Christmas. In fact, he’s been pushing for the league to start on December 25th for over a decade.
“I’ve been saying that for 15 years. And the reason I’ve been getting shot down is there’s this thing called HUT [households using television],” Cuban explained to Pardon My Takes co-hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter. “During the summer, that drops. A lot fewer people are watching television because they could be outside.” However, Cuban argues the evolution of television has made that a largely moot point.
“In the past that was a big deal. You wanted to end by June so you could maximize the people watching TV,” said the long-time Shark Tank panelist. “But TV has changed a lot. So we’re going to have a lot more options and a lot more flexibility to start later and end later.” Katz pointed out that casual NBA observers don’t typically tune in until football season is over or at least winding down, which usually coincides with Christmas. Cuban couldn’t agree more.
“Rather than taking on football with our first early games, let’s let them get close to playoffs and just go wholeheartedly starting Christmas day,” said Cuban. In advocating for a Christmas through September season, the NBA's stiffest competition for summer ratings would likely come from MLB. Baseball is still plenty popular, but the league’s largely regionalized fan-base would pose little threat compared to the all-encompassing, all-seeing NFL.
Just because Cuban says something on a podcast doesn’t mean it will happen or even gain any traction, but pushing the season back to avoid the ratings monster known as the NFL, does, at least on the surface, make sense.
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