“Get This Man Out of My Sport”: Adam Silver’s Bizarre Response To Affordable NBA Streaming Infuriates Fans

Fans have accused Commissioner Adam Silver of ignoring them when he signed the new media-rights deal.

“Get This Man Out of My Sport”: Adam Silver’s Bizarre Response To Affordable NBA Streaming Infuriates Fans

Adam Silver believes free highlights should balance subscriptions (Image via FirstSportz)

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As the NBA moves into a new era with their $76 billion media rights deal, Commissioner Adam Silver is bracing for a gestation period where fans would have to adjust to the new TV schedule.

The new 11-year deal brings back NBC along with newcomers, Amazon Prime Video, along with regular broadcaster ESPN. The problem for fans is that now they have to subscribe to at least 2 packages if they want to watch all the games.

Charles Barkley had once called the league ‘greedy’, as he felt these additional subscriptions would price regular fans out. At the time, the NBA did not bother about his opinions and went on to finalize the colossal deal.

Those three networks will combine to pay the NBA $7.6 billion a year, with a small fraction of it going to the WNBA. To ensure the networks get returns on their investment, there are concerns that they will increase prices.

There’s a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport. So, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, you name it, any service, the New York Times, for that matter, your content is not behind a paid firewall. There’s an enormous amount of content out there. YouTube, another example, that is advertising-based, that consumers can consume.

Adam Silver said to reporters

The 63-year-old former lawyer believes there is enough content for those who watch highlights. Therefore, in his eyes, it balances the high-priced subscriptions that will start from the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Fans flame Adam Silver for pricing them out

Adam Silver and the Board of Governors met in Manhattan to iron out some of the details heading into next season. Some aspects were interesting, especially with their interest in revamping the All-Star game. But this stance on subscription prices ticked off fans.

They believe the commissioner is intentionally making it expensive so that the networks make enough money. His attempts to talk about free content were weak, as those are all highlights-based, and not the full experience.

Instead of reducing pricing, fans believe his balancing method will end up costing viewers more. Check out examples of those infuriated responses below.

At a time when viewership ratings were climbing back, fans believe this move to multiple subscriptions would end up alienating fans. Until last calendar year, the league faced a continuous decline in ratings.

Thanks to some blockbuster trades and stellar playoffs, fans have started to watch basketball again. However, there could be some repercussions by leaning too much into this new method.

Adam Silver takes it slow with Kawhi Leonard-Clippers’ scandal investigation

Another pressing issue facing the NBA is the salary cap circumvention scandal alleged to have taken place with the Los Angeles Clippers. Reporters asked the commissioner as to how the league was handling the matter.

Adam Silver and Clippers' owner Steve Ballmer
Adam Silver and Clippers’ owner Steve Ballmer (Image via Alex Rozier NBCLA/X)

It was news to me. Frankly, I had never heard of the company Aspiration before, and I’d never heard a whiff of anything around an endorsement deal with Kawhi or anything around an engagement with the Los Angeles Clippers, so it was all new to me.

Adam Silver replied

He then added that the league will wait until the investigation is complete, and urged fans and the media to allow the necessary time to go through everything.

Adam Silver did reiterate that any penalties will be as per the proof at hand. Even though this scandal might not have a legitimate paper trail, there is a chance the league might refer to circumstantial evidence.

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