Tech-enabled NBA owners like the Clippers' Steve Ballmer have "helped turn the NBA into North America’s most forward-thinking sports league," according to Mark McClusky of WIRED magazine. Other leagues "struggle with aging fans and restrictive views on intellectual property," but the NBA "has the youngest TV audience of any U.S. league and lets its content flow through the wilds of the Internet." While the other U.S. leagues "struggle to build international interest in their games, the NBA has leveraged social media and new technology to build a huge global following." Roughly half of NBA teams "have controlling owners with backgrounds in tech and investment management." Kings Managing Partner Vivek Ranadive founded Tibco, Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert founded Rock Ventures and Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob "spent over 20 years at the legendary Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, overseeing investments in companies like Autotrader.com and Sportsline." Lacob: "My best investments were companies that people said to me, ‘That will never work’ or ‘There’s no data to support that.’ So now, with the Warriors, I want to try every technology, as long as we think there’s a rationale for it. Let’s open it up and see what works, because that’s the only way you’re ever going to be on the cutting edge." The owners "don’t talk to each other about on-the-court matters, but they’re all in touch regularly on issues of how to run their businesses and reach fans." Ballmer: "I certainly talk with [Mavericks Owner] Mark Cuban, with Vivek Ranadivé, with Dan Gilbert in Cleveland, with Joe Lacob." McClusky writes sports and social media "are a perfect fit for each other," and "no other North American sports league compares to the NBA on social."
SOCIAL SLAM: This winter, the NBA "proclaimed that it had over 1 billion followers for league, team, and player accounts across the largest U.S. platforms and on Tencent and Sina in China." Just counting official league accounts, the NBA "has over 66 million followers, almost twice as many as the NFL." The high points of basketball are "eminently shareable, and the NBA has allowed that sharing ecosystem to blossom -- in contrast to other leagues." Turner Broadcasting President David Levy said, "[NBA Commissioner] Adam Silver realized early on that people would tape things off the TV set and upload it to YouTube. He understood Instagram. He understood Snapchat. He gets the fact that fans are fans, and you need to fish where the fish are." Gilbert said of social media, "It’s almost like a free commercial. To me, it’s all great for the league, enhances the league, promotes the league, and I think the NBA has got it right on" (WIRED, 6/'16 issue).
