NBA's solid playoff ratings shows 'go woke, go broke' talking point was always a lie
For years now, there’s been this saying that emerged from the right and it goes like this: go woke, go broke.
What the talking point lacked in creative rhyming, it made up for in racism. The theory is that the more a sports league goes “woke,” the more it will suffer in popularity, namely, television ratings. In general though, woke, or the way they think of the word, has come to mostly mean anti-Black.
In sports, the NFL and NBA have been the biggest targets of this saying. It has been proven, over and over, that the saying is rubbish, as both leagues, especially the NFL, continue to generate solid viewership numbers, but the phrase remains part of the right-wing lexicon.
But something happened recently with the NBA, perhaps the second most “woke” league in existence behind the WNBA, that continues to show how leagues can be themselves, without fear, and how this saying is a lie.
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According to Richard Deitsch, who covers the media for The Athletic, ESPN/ABC is averaging 5.226 million viewers across 27 games for the 2023 NBA postseason. That’s the most-watched NBA playoffs ever, Deitsch says, on ESPN platforms through the first two rounds.
Sports Media Watch says Sunday's Sixers-Celtics contest was the most-watched television program, finishing ahead of “60 Minutes." An NBA game has led all television programming on six separate days this postseason: April 15, 23 and 30 (Warriors-Kings), May 10 and 12 (Lakers-Warriors) and the Sixers-Celtics.
There are several reasons why the ratings are solid. One of the biggest is a crop of new stars like Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo or Denver’s Nikola Jokić. They mix perfectly with established stars like Steph Curry and Lebron James.
The games have been wildly entertaining, there’s a good mix of large markets that put more backsides in front of their televisions, and eyeballs on their phones and laptops. Plus, younger viewers, the core of all leagues, see the NBA as cool. Because, well, it is.
What’s also in play, and has become clear, is that the mass viewer exodus from the NBA predicted by some, indeed hoped for, because of “wokeness” hasn’t happened. The Woke Avengers have wanted the NBA to burn to the ground for years. Instead, it remains highly popular.
If the argument is that the NBA is somehow less “woke” than in the recent past well that’s just false. Little has changed. Coaches and players are still outspoken on social issues.
They expressed anger over the killing of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was viciously beaten by five Memphis police officers. The story caused national outrage around the country and inside NBA locker rooms.
Phoenix guard Chris Paul said on Twitter regarding Nichols that, "Change is needed at all levels and we all need to do our part. We can't lose our humanity as a society. To the Nichols' family and Memphis community, my heart is with you tonight."
In April, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich shredded Republican Congressional leaders Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Jordan for what he called their inaction on working for gun safety reform. He called the Second Amendment "a myth, it's a joke, it's just a game they play. I mean, that's freedom. Is it freedom for kids to go to school and try to socialize and try to learn and be scared to death that they might die that day?"
That’s pretty "woke."
And yet no mass loss of NBA fans.
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Golden State coach Steve Kerr last year criticized the inaction of lawmakers about gun safety reform following another series of horrific shootings.
"We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we the American people want," Kerr said. "They won't vote on it, because they want to hold on to their own power."
That’s pretty “woke,” too.
And people are still watching.
What the NBA continues to prove is that it can be many things. It can be an entertaining sports league and it can care about the world around it. Perhaps just as importantly, more people than the GWGB types understand what protesting players, or players who speak about the universe that exists outside of basketball, are trying to do. Players are acknowledging the pain of people around them and they do so in small moments; not constantly but when it’s needed because they understand they have immense power, and that power can change things.
For people who call the NBA "woke," it was never truly about "wokeness." It was never about being angry over the social justice slogans embedded on the court when games were inside the bubble. It was always about control. It was always about attempting to stop players in a mostly Black league from voicing concerns about the country they love. The "woke" crowd just wants athletes to shut up and dribble.
Well, certain athletes are apparently allowed to speak their minds. Certain athletes are allowed to talk about politics.
The ratings show that most people understand what players and coaches are doing. They know the GWGB crowd is wrong. It always has been.
It always will be.