Does anyone watch NBA All-Star Game?
The All-Star Game also remained the most viewed in sports, topping the 2022 editions of the NFL Pro Bowl (6.69 million) and the NBA All-Star Game (6.28 million). Monday's Home Run Derby (6.88 million) also eclipsed the viewership of the NFL's and NBA's All-Star offerings.
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NBA All-Star Game audience up from low in '21.
NBA All-Star Game viewership trend on TNT/TBS | ||
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YEAR | VIEWERS (000) | LOCATION |
2020 | 7,282 | Chicago |
2019 | 6,797 | Charlotte |
2018** | 7,654 | L.A. |
A record-low number of viewers tuned into Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game, according to data announced by FOX. The Midsummer Classic drew 7.507 million viewers, a 10 percent decline from 2021.
All-Star Game Television Ratings Television Analysis & Ratings Breakdown | ||
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Year | ASG | Network | Viewers |
2017 | FOX | 9,280,000 |
2018 | FOX | 8,690,000 |
2019 | FOX | 8,162,000 |
Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters. NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each.
Fans account for 50% of the vote to determine the starters for the 2023 NBA All-Star Game. Current NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each.
The football games were much more popular this year, with two of the three getting more viewers than all the NBA games put together. In general, the NFL performs well on viewership rankings. NFL games accounted for 75 of the top 100 most-watched U.S. TV broadcasts in 2021, according to Sportskeeda.
The ESPN NBA broadcasts average 1.8 viewers a game while the TNT broadcasts attract 2.1 million viewers. Now look at the NFL numbers and you'll see they're still the clear winner.
For past three years the NBA Finals have had higher ratings than the World Series, cementing the fact that more people are watching the NBA than MLB.
Since NBA owners canceled the 1999 game, the highest rated and most-watched All-Star Game was in 2002 (8.2, 13.1M).
Is baseball losing popularity?
Concerns about the MLB's waning popularity will only increase with the release of the league's attendance numbers for the 2022 season. The MLB saw a 5.7% decline in total attendance from the 2019 season, according to a report from Forbes. In the 2022 season, MLB posted a total attendance of 67,556,636.
Rank | Broadcast | Date |
---|---|---|
1 | Super Bowl XLIX | February 1, 2015 |
2 | Super Bowl XLVIII | February 2, 2014 |
3 | Super Bowl 50 | February 7, 2016 |
4 | Super Bowl XLVI | February 5, 2012 |

The Super Bowl is the mecca of U.S. sports, followed by the World Series and NBA Finals. For international sports, the Olympics and FIFA World Cup are the most-watched events across the globe.
Don Newcombe won the first-ever Cy Young Award in 1956, as well as the 1956 AL MVP, but was not selected to the league's All-Star team. Newcombe put up an absurd season, totaling 27 wins and just seven losses, with a 3.06 ERA.
The All-Star Game, held on Sunday, is the main event of the weekend. The game showcases a mix of the league's star players, who are drafted by the two players with the most votes.
The NBA All Star game is an exhibition game played once a year that features the best NBA players from that season. The game is played about half way through the season each year. All star players are selected through a combination of fan, player, coach, and media voting.
James and Durant were the top vote getters in their respective conferences in 2021 and 2022. LeBron James and Kevin Durant lead their respective conferences in the first fan returns of #NBAAllStar Voting presented by AT&T. Fans account for 50% of the vote to decide All-Star starters.
1. Chicago Bulls. They are the league leaders in attendance for the past three seasons. The Chicago Bulls have a large fanbase that spans outside the Windy City.
It has happened far more often than you might think
Though technically All-NBA, which is comprised of only 15 players, is a far more exclusive club than the All-Star team, which has 24-plus players depending on injury replacements, it is actually quite common for players to make All-NBA despite not being All-Stars.
The Golden State Warriors became the first franchise in 42 years to be able to start five All-Stars (as they had all been the previous year), one in each floor position.
Which is bigger NBA or NHL?
The NHL raked in more than $2.9 billion in revenues last season. For five consecutive seasons, they've been breaking records in terms of generated revenueβand all of this happened during a down economy. The NBA, on the other hand, lost $300 million last season and $340 million the year before.
The NFL makes more money than NBA players. NFL players average about $14 million a year, almost twice what NBA players make. The league spends nearly double as much on the players, as well, so they are able to attract higher TV audiences and generate more revenue.
With 3.5 billion fans around the world, soccer is the one sport that pretty much the whole world can agree upon can be claimed the most viewed sports in the world.
In fact, the Super Bowl is the American sports broadcast with the most consistent ratings, and draws substantially higher ratings than other sports events, including the NBA Finals and World Series.
Historically, the national sport has been baseball. However, in more recent decades, American football has been the most popular sport in terms of broadcast viewership audience.
Lowest Rated | Least-Watched | |
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# | Year | Game |
1 | 2018 | DEN-ARIZ |
2 | 2008 | SEA-TB |
3 | 2017 | DEN-IND |
Television viewership in 2021 was down 12% from 2019, and the average age of baseball fans is 57. That's much older than any of the other major sports (the NBA's average is just 42), and baseball's fans are getting older year by year. The average age in 2006 was 52.
But the NBA is decidedly not more popular than ever by any means. To the contrary, regular-season ratings in 2020-21 were down 25% compared with the last uninterrupted season in 2018-19.
There are about 80 million U.S. pay-TV subscribers today, which is roughly 14 million fewer than in pre-pandemic 2019, per information provided by the league, and the number of people using television (known as PUT in TV industry lingo) is down 26 percent versus the period for the 2019 finals.
Is the NBA doing well?
The NBA is still doing well enough relative to its competition. On several occasions last month, playoff games on cable were the top programs on all of television in the key adults 18-49 demographic (a not-unusual result this time of year).
Coverage of the NBA Playoffs has averaged 3.6 million viewers across ESPN, ABC and TNT through Thursday, up 23% from last year and up 29% from 2019, the previous postseason to begin in the month of April (2.80M). Viewership is also up 102% from the months-delayed postseason two years ago.
Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, which included the Dunk Contest at halftime, averaged a combined 3.1 rating and 5.94 million viewers across TNT and TBS β down 24% in ratings and 18% in viewership from last year (4.1, 7.28M) and the lowest rated and least-watched edition of the game.
The highest-scoring playoff game is the double-overtime game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns on May 11, 1992. The two teams combined to score 304 points, with the Trail Blazers defeating the Suns 153β151.
The Yankees now top the list at number one, followed by the Dodgers, and then the Astros. For the last several years, those three teams have taken turns in the top spot as the league's most hated team. Rounding out the top 10 is the Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox, and Giants.
Cross country, swimming and diving and competitive spirit registered the biggest decline in the past three years among Top 10 sports with a 13 percent drop. Flag football and girl's wrestling continued their recent surge in popularity with a 50 percent increase since 2018/19 (21,124 to 31,654).
playoffs, N.H.L. playoffs, Major League Baseball regular season and playoffs, United States Open tennis, United States Open golf, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and college football have all had ratings declines of at least 25 percent compared with 2019.
The best-selling video game to date is Minecraft, a sandbox game released by Mojang in May 2009 for a wide range of PC, mobile and console platforms, selling more than 238 million copies across all platforms.
What is America's favorite sport?
American Football (or simply Football) is the most popular sport in the US. Although the sport is unique to the country, it developed from two other sports, soccer and rugby. In 1869, two college teams, Princeton and Rutgers, played the first football match.
Basketball is currently the highest-paid sport in the world. Not only do the best players in the league earn millions per year in their salary, but they make large amounts of money from various sponsorships and endorsements as well. In 2021, NBA basketball players earned an average of $7.7 million per year.
The number of rookie players in the All-Star Game has dwindled drastically over the years. The last rookie to be voted an All-Star was Blake Griffin in 2011 with the Los Angeles Clippers as there have only been 10 rookies to make the game since 1985.
Since the 1975β76 season, only three players have been named MVP for a season in which their team failed to win at least 50 regular season gamesβMoses Malone (twice, 1978β79 and 1981β82), Russell Westbrook (2016β17) and Nikola JokiΔ (2021β22).
Jerry West of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers was named MVP in 1969 after the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in Game 7. Bobby Richardson of MLB's New York Yankees was named MVP in 1960 after the Yankees lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7.
The All-Star Game, held on Sunday, is the main event of the weekend. The game showcases a mix of the league's star players, who are drafted by the two players with the most votes.
The NBA All Star game is an exhibition game played once a year that features the best NBA players from that season. The game is played about half way through the season each year. All star players are selected through a combination of fan, player, coach, and media voting.
Prices currently range from $279 to watch the practice sessions to $18,999 for the full package.
The winner of the All-Star Game earns their league home-field advantage in that year's World Series. If the American League wins, the team in the World Series from the American League is given a home-field advantage. By doing this, a possible Game 7 will be played at home for the American League.
Hoping for increased excitement
Four years ago, the league increased the winners' prize to $100,000 per player, leaving a $75,000 difference between the earnings of the winners and the losers - a big jump from the previous $25,000 gap.
Why do all-star games exist?
An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league.
The All-Star Game usually occurs in early to mid-July and marks the symbolic halfway point in the Major League Baseball (MLB) season (though not the mathematical halfway point; in most seasons, the game actually takes place after about 55% of the season has been completed), and since 2003 it has been used to determine ...
I don't know exactly when it happened, but players in the all-star game have a gentleman's agreement where they don't try to play as intensely as they would in a regular season or playoff game. There's a logical reason for this lack of effort though.
Since the NBA implemented a salary cap prior to the 1984-85 season, only five teams have won a championship without a player making the All-NBA First Team: the Detroit Pistons in 1989, 1990 and 2004, the 1995 Houston Rockets and the 2011 Dallas Mavericks.
On the secondary market, prices for the 2023 NBA All-Star game start at $1,174 for 100's-level tickets on the baselines. Prices for 100's-level go as high as $2,400 on the sidelines in section 133. Lower-level seats start at $3,462 in section 4 row 21. 100 level seats go as high as $9,576 for seats in section 6 Row 9.
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Most expensive tickets to the All-Star Game.
They can go anywhere from two to three hundred dollars all the way up to $600 for a primetime match up against a big team.
Don Newcombe won the first-ever Cy Young Award in 1956, as well as the 1956 AL MVP, but was not selected to the league's All-Star team.
The last rookie to be voted an All-Star was Blake Griffin in 2011 with the Los Angeles Clippers as there have only been 10 rookies to make the game since 1985. Rookie Wire decided to take a look at every rookie to become an All-Star.
George Mikan was the NBA's first superstar and led the Minneapolis Lakers to five titles from 1949-54.