NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said as "great a job" as Commissioner Emeritus David Stern did leading the league, he "never thought we would be in the same conversation with some of the other major-league sports." Appearing yesterday on CBSSN's "We Need To Talk," Silver said, "In my tenure, I think there's been a lift for all sports with this notion of premium live sports content." He added sports is "appointment viewing and because of that, you can aggregate an audience around it." Silver: "In the roughly five years that I’ve been commissioner, it's accelerated more than anybody would have anticipated." Meanwhile, fans recognize that a courtside seat at an NBA game is "one of the best seats in all of sports," and Silver said the next big thing for the league is figuring out how to "replicate that experience." He noted in "taking advantage of a strong team in the Bay Area in the Warriors and the tremendous interest from the tech community in the NBA, we went to the technology leaders and said, 'How do we replicate the courtside experience?'" Silver: "Through virtual and augmented reality, and all kinds of immersive experiences in media, we're getting closer."
WIDESPREAD APPEAL: Silver said the NBA's global impact has led to China becoming "our second biggest market." Silver: "People predicted when Yao (Ming) retired, interest would go down, and it's only continued to accelerate." He added kids in China are "really into basketball," and there is "probably more basketball being played than any other sport" in the country. Silver said the impact of social media has been "very positive for the league." Silver: "Right now, we have roughly 1.5 billion people who are following the teams and players in some way on social media." And while social "does get out of hand once in a while," the league has "found in working with the players that they get it" in terms of how they represent themselves and the NBA.
SHOWING SUPPORT: Silver said the league supports players' social activism efforts by "having a dialogue with them, allowing them to speak out on issues that are important to them and allowing them to use our platform." Silver also said he is "glad" the WNBPA opted out of its current CBA because there is a "disconnect between the players and the league." Silver: "We need to fix that. If it took opting out of the current collective bargaining agreement to force us to the table, we need to do that" ("We Need To Talk," CBSSN, 11/13).
