NBA shortening games

[Tyzack]

I barely follow basketball, so this question is mostly asked out of ignorance; why is the leauge experimenting with shorter games? NBA games are already the shortest (timed) of professional spots (at 48 minutes) and they are thinking of dropping it to 44. I have no idea what this is trying to accomplish.

 

I reasons I've heard do not make sense:

 

1.) To bring games closer to the 2-hour broadcast window, which i'm pretty sure they're in anyway, since soccer/football (90 minutes+), hockey (1 hour), and american football (1 hour) all fit close-enough to the window. 

 

2.) Decrease risk of injury. This is weird to me; how dangerous of a sport is basketball? There are more forceful colisions in all the other sports, so I'd think that basket ball would be one of the "safest" sports to play. Is it because of the start-stop-leap that involves more frequent drasict changes in direction? Can padding help colisions? Can work be done on shoes and court surfaces to allow for more give?

 

That is all.

 

Also, this is what happens when the local NPR station is doing pledge drives and I have to listen to sports radio.

 

Cool form y'all have hear - poke over the D&D when you have a chance!

[SinisterDeath]

Cool form y'all have hear - poke over the D&D when you have a chance!

Hey no!

D&D doesn't exist! Y'all should just stay over here, and those D&Ders that don't exist should discover this section!

[Tyzack]

 

Cool form y'all have hear - poke over the D&D when you have a chance!

Hey no!

D&D doesn't exist! Y'all should just stay over here, and those D&Ders that don't exist should discover this section!

 

 

D&D does exist! I stopped at a rest area in vermount where some local boyscouts' parents were "selling" snacks etc; the boy scouts were discussing D&D.

#nerds

 

It made me happy.

 

But, um, yeah, basketball players are weak?

[SinisterDeath]

I dunno. I haven't watched basketball since '94 and Jordan hadn't tried baseball yet..

 

But hey, even if basketball isn't a collison sport like football or hockey, doesn't mean it is without risks.

This is particularly true with jump shots, slam dunks, ect. Impacts do happen, albeit rare compared to football. If you combine this with nearly 20 minutes of running up and down a basketball court... accidents do happen! (And I'd argue basket ball is more exhausting then football just from a cardio perspective)

 

Anyways; it is possible they are doing it not for safety, but more ad revenue. You said it yourself... if they already fit in that 1-2 hour broadcast window, with games only being 44 minutes long they get 16 minutes of ad time.

4 additional minutes of ad time, per game; per season could generate billions of ad revenue for the networks, allowing the NBA to charge them more for the right to broadcast...

 

NFL for example, wants to charge the super bowl half time performer for singing! They are getting so greedy and cheap, they don't want to pay the performers!

[MasterAblar]

An NFL team plays 16 regular season game. An NBA team plays 82 (with a possible 28 more in the playoffs). Which means they also travel a lot more. Doesn't matter that the contacts aren't as violent, sheer fatigue will cause an injury. And that's in-spite of the countless methods used to help players recuperate. These guys might seem superhuman but you can only push your body so far. A league with several of it's best players due to injury is doing something wrong. Obviously an NBA game is pretty high intensity and constant twisting and turning and jumping is rather risky as well, but frankly I think this is about injuries caused by fatigue. NBA might play 48 minute matches, but FIBA rules are 40 minute matches.

[SBoydW]

I barely follow basketball, so this question is mostly asked out of ignorance; why is the leauge experimenting with shorter games? NBA games are already the shortest (timed) of professional spots (at 48 minutes) and they are thinking of dropping it to 44. I have no idea what this is trying to accomplish.

 

I reasons I've heard do not make sense:

 

1.) To bring games closer to the 2-hour broadcast window, which i'm pretty sure they're in anyway, since soccer/football (90 minutes+), hockey (1 hour), and american football (1 hour) all fit close-enough to the window. 

 

2.) Decrease risk of injury. This is weird to me; how dangerous of a sport is basketball? There are more forceful colisions in all the other sports, so I'd think that basket ball would be one of the "safest" sports to play. Is it because of the start-stop-leap that involves more frequent drasict changes in direction? Can padding help colisions? Can work be done on shoes and court surfaces to allow for more give?

 

That is all.

 

Also, this is what happens when the local NPR station is doing pledge drives and I have to listen to sports radio.

 

Cool form y'all have hear - poke over the D&D when you have a chance!

 

By removing 4 minutes a game they effectively remove a cumulative 7ish games a season and help the flow of the game by taking away 2 time outs and got rid of the the mandatory 3rd media breaks in the second and fourth quarters.

 

As far as injuries are concerned Google Kevin Ware and Paul George.  While structural injuries like their's aren't as common as they are in NFL or NHL, ligament, tendon, knee and muscle injuries are very common because of the constant planting, twisting, jumping and directional changes (which you indicated).  As far as the foot wear/floor technology, I have not idea if there is anything that can be done there without radically changing the game.

 

The hope is that it will also, to some degree, help players (and by player I mean star players) be fresher at the end of the year so they aren't rested as much, since they are the ones that the majority fans are actually paying to see.