Money again in the mid-season of the NBA



[ad_1]

NEW YORK – NBA commissioner Adam Silver reiterated Friday that he remained puzzled by the possibility that the NBA will add some kind of mid-season tournament to his schedule in the future.

"It's possible that even though the guys are playing 82 games, it's not the best way to present it from the fans' point of view," Silver said at his press conference at the end the annual end-of-season meeting of the League of Governors. "I think we should always step back and remind ourselves that at the end of the day, it's about fans, especially as the media landscape is changing and that the pay-TV package is changing, and we could evolve into a world of audience support every night.

"In your opinion, if you do not play, you will not get paid, and none of us does, not just players.

"That's why I'm particularly interested in different types of formats – in mid-season tournaments, for example play-in tournaments – because even if you accept that players have as many miles on their body, they can exist. -being better ways to present Assuming the guys are going to play 82 games, maybe there should be a number of regular season games and then two tournaments all season long. "

2 related

It's far from the first time that Silver addresses the idea of ​​participating in mid-season tournaments – evidence that the Commissioner is strongly in favor of the idea of ​​making them happen at at some point during the regular season of the league. This joined his comments at the Sloan Sports Analytics conference in Boston last month, in which he said in an interview with Bill Simmons of The Ringer that the All-Star Game "was not working".

But, even as he was once again asserting his interest in this idea, Silver made it clear that he was going to need more than him, saying that it was a good idea to turn such a thing into reality. . He should convince the players and teams in the league that it was worth it.

"I know that for most American viewers, it's a very foreign concept because we're not used to having multiple goals during the season," Silver said. "But as I said, it's very commonplace in international football.It would take some time to develop these new traditions, because I think the initial reaction may be who cares to win the mid-season tournament, everything revolves around the Larry O & # 39; Brien Trophy, so we need to take a long-term perspective on these things.

"As I said, we and the players have a common interest in maximizing the audience and maximizing the interest." The format we have in place now – I'm a traditionalist. one side, but on the other side, he is about 50. present a season of 82 games, and there is nothing magical about it.I think the league office must always challenge his way of doing things – being attentive to changing viewer habits, to a changing market, to a new world of the way the media is presented, often on smaller devices, less on the screens, people with reduced attention ability – and saying: "It's an amazing game, it's never been so exciting, athletics has never been as great, fantastic players from around the world, but what's the best way to put the season together? "

"When you say that we are at this stage now, I would only say that I think that these kinds of changes can not be done without a huge deliberation.Part of this is just the formality that we have to negotiate with players "association players, but even if the association of players told us:" You know better what you want, I do not know how to answer you.I think it will require much more research, much more from teams, players and the league working together. "

Beyond the prospect of mid-season tournaments, "load management" was one of the main topics discussed at the Silver press conference: it's the elegant way teams describe the rest of their players to preserve their health during the season.

Silver has been questioned several times about this. And while defending the players – saying that often the teams put these restrictions in place instead of their objections – he said that this led the league to consider several possible ways to change things in order to : relieve the need for it to take place on such a large scale.

"We are looking at the signs," said Silver. "The goal is to keep the players healthy, especially at this time of the year … I'm incredibly friendly to this fan who plays especially the game outside, where this star player is here and It is in this game that the player is resting.On the other hand, it is in the collective interest of the entire league that these players remain healthy for the playoffs.

"I think fans might think that if scientific knowledge suggests that 82 games is too much for these players, you should not have an 82-game season, I accept that, and we'll continue to do it." . Watch.

"I think the other problem is that the season will run approximately from the beginning of October until the end of June, we could also look at the format, and we could also look at the number of minutes of the game. international and the university match lasts 40 minutes and our game, 48 minutes, which would be another way to handle the load.

"These are all things we look at."

Prior to Silver's press conference, the NBA had also broken ties for the seven draws between the teams in the final standings of the regular season to determine the playoff position before the NBA draw. next month.

To summarize them, in order:

[ad_2]

Source link