Why the NBA’s Sponsorship Growth Numbers Don’t Tell the Full Story

The NBA is feeling like a headliner at a concert, watching the crowd leave before the final song. Once the gold standard of global hoops, it’s now struggling to keep up with younger, more connected audiences. Meanwhile, the WNBA is rising as the breakout artist, stealing the spotlight with authenticity and loyalty.

NBA viewership is on the decline, with ESPN’s ratings dropping 28%, even with games on ABC, ESPN, and TNT, averaging just 1.53 million viewers, which is lower than last season’s 1.56 million. While sponsorship revenue is up 91% over the past 5 years, it’s driven more by high-value deals than an increase in volume.

The NBA’s sponsor boost didn’t come from more deals; it only came from better ones. Teams are packing more assets into each partnership, and that “extras” count just hit a five-year high. Sponsorship deal volume growth was merely 2.5% year-on-year. Teams did pack more assets into each partnership, and that “extras” count just hit a five-year high.

The NBA’s challenge? Retaining attention in a fast-changing media landscape.

NBA’s Lost Grip on Culture…

The NBA today sits in a strange in-between. It has changed just enough to alienate some of its older loyalists. But not enough to fully capture the imagination of a younger, shifting audience. It’s proving to be a big loss, especially with upcoming alternatives in place. The NBA is bleeding attention to the WNBA, newer leagues. College hoops, streetball culture, and even international leagues. Why exactly?

Change in Sport: ‘Unwatchable’

Since the NBA’s three-point revolution, ratings have plummeted, with overall viewership down 48% since 2012, and ESPN’s NBA games dropping 28% last season. Legends like Shaquille O’Neal call the game “unwatchable,” citing excessive threes, minimal defense, and stars resting due to load management. Some are even pushing to move the three-point line back to restore competitiveness.

Caitlin Clark, the WNBA’s 2024 ROTY, weighed in on the New Heights podcast. She said, “The physicality of the league has changed a lot.”  She added that there has been a visible change in the league. “I wasn’t around when it was much more physical, and maybe people want more beef and physicality, and people think it’s gone soft. But I think that’s also because the skill has just changed.”

Still, she pointed out that basketball’s always evolving. It’ll never be exactly like the MJ era, and it’ll keep changing in another decade. Another issue she pointed out? Football has just taken over. “Football is America’s favorite thing,” Clark said, and that’s not helping the NBA’s fight for eyeballs. Meanwhile, the league is scrambling for fixes. Like a potential four-point line suggestion by Kelce’s brothers.

Which Caitlin Clark fully backed by the way. “I’d love that [four point-line]. Let’s do it. That’s a great idea. (NBA commissioner), Adam Silver, four-point line.” For CC, it’s easier to say because while the NBA’s tweaking rules to stay relevant, the WNBA’s surging. The Women’s League is proving that sometimes the best fix isn’t gimmicks, it’s authenticity.

The Lost Broadcast Era

The NBA’s decline isn’t just about the game’s evolution—it’s a shift in how people consume content. Fans aren’t abandoning the game; they’re moving away from traditional TV.

Today’s audience wants content they can scroll, share, and consume on the go. While linear TV numbers fall, the NBA’s digital presence is booming, with 83.5 billion views this year—a 41% increase. This shift presents a huge opportunity for the NBA to connect with the next generation online.

The NBA is averaging 1.76 million viewers across ESPN and TNT. These figures show a 5% drop from the previous year, according to Nielsen. But basketball isn’t alone. The NHL’s numbers dropped 11%. And even the NFL, America’s sporting giant, saw a 2% decline.

The real issue is the decline of cable TV. Nielsen data shows an 8% yearly drop in cable subscribers, meaning fewer people are tuning in the old-fashioned way. It’s not a loss of interest in the game, but impatience with traditional TV. Fans want content they can scroll, share, and consume on the go.

While linear TV numbers shrink, the NBA’s digital presence is booming. NBA content has generated 83.5 billion views across social media this year, a 41% increase from last season. This shift offers the NBA an opportunity to connect with the next generation of fans online, not on the couch.

The Cost of Being Everywhere

The NBA is more marketable than ever, with a $76 billion media rights deal promising its reach across Amazon Prime, NBC, and ESPN. But being everywhere doesn’t always mean being effective. Toyota is the NBA’s most versatile sponsor, activating partnerships with over half the teams, while Rakuten’s jersey patch deal with the Warriors remains the biggest sponsorship.

Tech spending has surged by $22 million. This jump is highlighted by Intuit’s naming rights deal for the Clippers’ new arena. Even automotive spending has grown by $8 million. This is fueled by Sacramento’s jersey patch deal with Reviver. Sounds too much already? Hold up, there’s even healthcare in line.

It rose $8.2 million, thanks to Kaiser Permanente’s expanded Clippers deal and Memorial Hermann’s Rockets partnership. The league-wide sponsorship hit $1.62 billion this season. That’s up by 8% from last year and a staggering 91% since 2019-20. But in chasing dollars, the NBA risks losing what made it special. Players have started to feel like walking billboards, teams prioritize viral clips over substance, and the actual game gets buried under ads and algorithm-bait.

Other Leagues Stealing the Spotlight

The NBA used to dominate basketball viewership without breaking a sweat. But now it’s got serious competition, and much of it is thriving. The WNBA’s 2024 season was a breakout. Its regular season viewership skyrocketed to 170% and pulled in 54 million unique viewers. ESPN aired 22 games that each topped 1 million viewers. Caitlin Clark’s matchup against the Liberty on ABC drew 2.2 million, peaking at 2.8 million. It was a WNBA record. ION’s Friday Night Spotlight series also proved a major win.

After securing rights to 50 WNBA games, the network doubled its unique viewers year-over-year. They have hit a 133% increase in reach and 23 million total viewers across platforms. College basketball is surging, too. The men’s Final Four peaked at 18.1 million viewers (up 22%), while the women’s tournament averaged 8.5 million for marquee games. It was proof that the fans want new rivalries and rising stars, not just NBA staples.

Even alternative formats are gaining traction. Like TNT quickly partnered with Unrivaled after losing NBA rights. Unrivaled is a new women’s 3-on-3 league. The whole thing ended up signaling demand for faster, fresher hoops. These challengers aren’t just nibbling at the NBA’s audience. They are building fan bases of their own. With authentic storytelling, easy access (no cable required), and players fans genuinely connect with. They are showing there’s more than one way to win in basketball’s new era.

What Should Be Done, What Shouldn’t?

The NBA’s slow decline is a billion-dollar headache for powerful stakeholders who have invested heavily in its future. And not just a league problem. The media titans: NBC, Disney, and Amazon Prime Video just bet $76 billion on their future. All of them are counting on basketball to drive viewers and cultural impact through 2031. But Amazon is especially exposed with its exclusive streaming rights to the struggling NBA Cup.

After two lukewarm tournaments, insiders say that the league and Amazon are scrambling to move the event’s timing. Majorly, to avoid NFL playoff competition. All of this goes deeper than just ratings. Fans want real stakes and emotional investment. Networks need returns. Everyone’s got skin in the game. Time to separate the good solutions from the bad.

The Failed Attempt

The NBA rolled out its In-Season Tournament (aka the NBA Cup), hoping to inject life into the monotonous 82-game schedule. While the cash incentives and colorful, NBA2K-esque were interesting novelties, all of it ultimately failed to resonate with fans whose attention is being increasingly stolen by other sports leagues. From the UFC to the Premier League, and even, WNBA.

Proof? The NBA Cup Final this year, where the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in a matchup of small-market franchises. They saw ticket prices drop so low that they were cheaper than a burger-and-beer combo at most NBA venues.

Meanwhile, the league also overhauled the All-Star Game ahead of 2025. They made a wrong move by ditching the classic East vs. West format for a four-team mini-tournament. Even the 14-time All-Star Kevin Durant bluntly said he “absolutely hates” the change. So far, these tweaks feel more desperate than revolutionary.

Charles Barkley’s Bold Call

NBA legend Charles Barkley just dropped a bombshell suggestion to fix the league’s relevance problem. His verdict is to delay the entire season to tip off on Christmas Day. During his appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, the Hall of Famer was brutally honest. He said “I think we need to seriously consider starting on Christmas because listen you’re wasting your time going up against the NFL and College Football, they own the weekends now… We’d have the entire calendar to ourselves.”

His point did make a lot of sense. From October through February, the NBA battles NFL Sundays, college football Saturdays, and even college basketball’s biggest weekends. Barkley is never one to sugarcoat things, so he put it bluntly. “I think we have to figure out something because the most important part of the game is the fans. If they’re not watching, you can’t keep your head in the sand — you’ve got to say, ‘What are we doing wrong?”

Sure, the NBA’s tried Band-Aid fixes like the In-Season Tournament, global games, and schedule adjustments. But maybe it’s time for bigger swings. A Christmas launch could finally give the NBA what football has been hogging: undivided attention.

Follow the Blazer Trail

The Portland Trail Blazers might have just cracked the code for the NBA’s viewership crisis. After finishing last in local ratings during the 2022-23 season, the team made a big pivot. They were trapped in a Root Sports deal that only reached 20% of their market. So, in August 2023, they ditched their $20-25 million regional sports network contract entirely.

They switched to free over-the-air broadcasts and their own streaming platform, BlazerVision. The results speak for themselves: by March 2024, viewership had skyrocketed 116%, which is the league’s biggest jump. Accessibility became the priority. Fans from Seattle to southern Oregon can now catch every game without cable, whether through traditional TV or the team’s app.

To ensure no one got left behind, the Blazers even distributed 10,000 free antennas (some delivered personally by players) and ran a comprehensive education campaign across social media, streaming platforms, and digital billboards. Blazers CMO Kevin Kinghorn explained that “We’re going to take that hit, but we’re going to bet on ourselves”.

He earlier said, “[When] we get more games to more homes and get more people involved, all boats rise with the tide.” By controlling their own ad inventory across both broadcast and streaming, the team has rebuilt its revenue model from the ground up. “Instead of putting all of our eggs in an RSN and collecting a big check, we’re thinking about the business differently when we’re thinking about it across multiple verticals and multiple content channels.”

He didn’t shy away from noting that their 17-year cable partnership had become unsustainable. Portland’s gamble aligned perfectly with fan priorities. An Ipsos study confirmed “easy access to games” tops viewers’ wishlists. The question now is whether the rest of the NBA follows their lead? And is it enough to ensure a powerful comeback?