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.
I'm just here to say WTF is this shit?
Hate the ad for being a naughty step threat, but if black people are the best at the sport then let them play it, otherwise git gud.
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.