NBA Commissioner Adam Silver last week discussed some of the challenges facing the league, and while there is "no crisis, per se," he has "reason to be unsettled," according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. The NBA has some "real issues," including that overall tickets sales are "slightly down" this season. TV ratings also are "down this season." Silver said that the league has "made some mistakes that have caused him to lose sleep" and "hinted that he's even re-evaluating what he wants his identity as commissioner to be." The Warriors' average gate revenue is $3.4M a game, while the Knicks, who have the league's worst record, "pull in an average" of $2.9M per game. Compared to the "bottom of the list" -- the Grizzlies get less than $1M per night -- it "shows the disparity" in markets. This issue has "been around as long as the league has." It is why high-revenue teams "pay into a pool of money that gets transferred to low-revenue teams." But as Silver says, the Grizzlies "would always have a great challenge to truly compete even if they were able to land two or three superstars." Silver has recently "seemed so much different" than the past version of himself, who "often answered questions pleasantly but somewhat dismissively." He seems to be "spending a lot of his day worrying about how to get into the minds of millennials, be they players or fans." Being honest is a "good way to start" (ESPN.com, 3/7).
