The 2023 March Madness tournament, which has shown few if any progressive trappings, has had better ratings thus far than most NBA games last year.
Surprise, surprise.
According to the Sports Business Journal, this year’s edition of perhaps the most exciting sporting event in America has not only been record setting in and of itself, it is putting the NBA to absolute shame. Here’s a brief list of facts that put into perspective just how big the viewership disparity is:
More than 9.3 million people on average watched the first round of the NCAA tournament. By contrast, the first two rounds of last year’s NBA playoffs averaged a paltry 3.7 viewers, almost three times less than a bunch of college dudes.
11.7 million people watched 16-seeded Fairleigh-Dickinson upset No. 1 seed Purdue. Both of last year’s conference finals averaged 6.8 million views.
This year, ABC barely got 2.5 million people to watch each of its 15 prime-time games. That means on average more people were interested in watching games with teams like Saint Mary’s playing than the iconic Boston Celtics.
We haven't even reached the Sweet 16 yet, and these are the numbers we're seeing.
Why are the numbers trending this way? Because teams in March Madness stick to playing basketball and talking about basketball (a revolutionary concept, I know) and don’t waste time spewing woke lectures at us.
No team is wearing “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts. We’re not hearing about how the LGBT community is an oppressed demographic (which they’re not). What we seeing during each games is players and coaches who are showing they will do whatever it takes to win, celebrating the chance to play on college’s biggest stage, and relishing every high their journey brings.
Contrast that with a league of woke activists that care more about “load management” and being talking heads for the progressive movement than the sport, and it's really no wonder why the NBA’s ratings can’t keep up.
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Instead of providing game updates, the Twitter account for the @SanJoseSharks went on an entire tweet-spree pushing an LGBTQ+ agenda. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/0IgOmum7Hh
— MRCTV (@mrctv) March 21, 2023