The story goes like this. The NBA realised that too many black guys were dominating the sport and they had to do something in order to keep drawing in the masses. Black guys as celebrities weren't as popular at the time. In come the court-seat celebrities who were offered free or discount seats in order to bring allure, spectacle and glitz to the games.
Then the NFL began to become more and more dominated by black guys, which is when ESPN got snatched up by Disney and they started running non-stop 'YOU ARE A RACIST, YOU BIGOT!!!!' commentary. The court-side seats spiel wouldn't have been as effective, so they needed something else.
The NBA realized that too many black guys were dominating the sport and they had to do something in order to keep drawing in the masses.
Do they though?
I don't think people care about the racial composition of the team, they just care "home team wins". The 1990's Chicago Bulls had like one white guy a season, and in the 90's everyone loved the Bulls (cuz they were winners).
People like teams that win (as long they aren't the team to hate cuz they always win). A few strange people in the midwest like teams that lose.
What mainstreamed the NBA was FIBA ruling that NBA players could play in the Olympics. Come the 1992 Barcelona games, the USA utterly demolished everyone; nobody held America under 100 points. I mean look at this lineup:
Laettner
Robinson
Ewing
Bird
Pippen
Jordan
Drexler
Malone
Stockton
Mullin
Barkley
Johnson
After the medal game the Croatians were stripping down and asking the Americans to autograph their shoes and jerseys.
So it really is just more naughty step threats across that sport.
I don't follow basketball or football and so am blissfully unaware of the situation but if the audience is being attacked then there is an issue with how it is being governed.
The NBA realised that too many black guys were dominating the sport and they had to do something in order to keep drawing in the masses. Black guys as celebrities weren't as popular at the time. In come the court-seat celebrities who were offered free or discount seats in order to bring allure, spectacle and glitz to the games.
Celebrities were already sitting courtside during the time that made the NBA get popular to begin with, which was the 80s and 90s. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird saved the NBA from a marketing perspective because they were two relatively straight laced players for the two biggest teams at a time where a large portion of the league was black and throwing games for either their bookies or for their drug habits, which was why the NBA Finals before the 80s was on tape delay. Because there wasn't national interest until them, and then Michael Jordan came in 1984 and David Stern, the NBA commissioner at the time, rode that until the wheels fell off.
What I think you're talking about is when Allen Iverson came in and was wearing chains, baggy pants and dressed like his rapper friends when his team would have him sit out of games, which is why Stern introduced the rule to make players dress in suits while missing games, which the players at the time did call racially motivated.
I watch way too much about the history of American sports to not at least clarify.
It became a PR marketing strategy that spread to other teams as well in the eighties. They needed the glamour and glitz of celebrities to boost the media profile of these games.
Also, the blacks in the 90s (and 80s) were pretty cool. Pippen, Malone, Ewing, Miller... all had normal first names, and acted like normal people. It was a white sport being played by black players.
The story goes like this. The NBA realised that too many black guys were dominating the sport and they had to do something in order to keep drawing in the masses. Black guys as celebrities weren't as popular at the time. In come the court-seat celebrities who were offered free or discount seats in order to bring allure, spectacle and glitz to the games.
Then the NFL began to become more and more dominated by black guys, which is when ESPN got snatched up by Disney and they started running non-stop 'YOU ARE A RACIST, YOU BIGOT!!!!' commentary. The court-side seats spiel wouldn't have been as effective, so they needed something else.
Do they though?
I don't think people care about the racial composition of the team, they just care "home team wins". The 1990's Chicago Bulls had like one white guy a season, and in the 90's everyone loved the Bulls (cuz they were winners).
People like teams that win (as long they aren't the team to hate cuz they always win). A few strange people in the midwest like teams that lose.
They had to mainstream NBA players and that required the glamour and glitz of celebrities.
What mainstreamed the NBA was FIBA ruling that NBA players could play in the Olympics. Come the 1992 Barcelona games, the USA utterly demolished everyone; nobody held America under 100 points. I mean look at this lineup:
After the medal game the Croatians were stripping down and asking the Americans to autograph their shoes and jerseys.
Thanks for the clarification.
So it really is just more naughty step threats across that sport.
I don't follow basketball or football and so am blissfully unaware of the situation but if the audience is being attacked then there is an issue with how it is being governed.
I hope your team ends well this season :)
Celebrities were already sitting courtside during the time that made the NBA get popular to begin with, which was the 80s and 90s. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird saved the NBA from a marketing perspective because they were two relatively straight laced players for the two biggest teams at a time where a large portion of the league was black and throwing games for either their bookies or for their drug habits, which was why the NBA Finals before the 80s was on tape delay. Because there wasn't national interest until them, and then Michael Jordan came in 1984 and David Stern, the NBA commissioner at the time, rode that until the wheels fell off.
What I think you're talking about is when Allen Iverson came in and was wearing chains, baggy pants and dressed like his rapper friends when his team would have him sit out of games, which is why Stern introduced the rule to make players dress in suits while missing games, which the players at the time did call racially motivated.
I watch way too much about the history of American sports to not at least clarify.
It became a PR marketing strategy that spread to other teams as well in the eighties. They needed the glamour and glitz of celebrities to boost the media profile of these games.
Also, the blacks in the 90s (and 80s) were pretty cool. Pippen, Malone, Ewing, Miller... all had normal first names, and acted like normal people. It was a white sport being played by black players.
In the nineties we saw the ascendancy of rap music, which started to leak into mainstream culture. This became associated with NBA players.