It's "panic time" for the NBA in the wake of its adoption of the Black Lives Matter agenda, with viewership plunging on ABC 45% since the 2011-12 season.
Breitbart News reported the ratings disaster includes a viewership drop on TNT of 40% and 20% on ESPN.
"This ratings tumble is nothing new, granted," the report said. "The past two NBA finals each have fallen one over the other, with last year’s down 51% to an all-time low for the championships. The worst was the final game, off nearly 70% year-over-year."
Breitbart said the NBA's ratings collapse "may not be surprising in light of recent polls finding that basketball fans feel that the league has become far too wrapped up in politics."
The average viewership is down to 2.83 million, according to The Athletic.
Sports events typically have drawn bigger crowds than anything else on television, but now even NBC's "The Blacklist" is outdrawing the NBA.
A Harris poll last fall found 39% of people who identify as sports fans said the NBA was too political. Nineteen percent said they turned off pro basketball because of the league's deep financial ties to communist China.
Last October, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the BLM campaign is winding down and and there will eventually be a "return to normalcy."
"And, I understand those people who are saying, ‘I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game,'” Silver said.
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