- The NBA cup was designed to provide players with a new championship to chase and also boost fan engagement before the playoffs
- After a positive start, NBA Cup viewership is officially down 10% in its second season
- Fan opinion is now divided on if the championship has been worth the hype
When the NBA Cup made its debut in the 2023-24 season, it caused an initial burst of excitement amongst fans. The NBA had been crying out for something a little different during the regular-season schedule, so this new type of tournament seemed like the perfect fit to get fans (and casuals) engaged again. However, the NBA Cup is now in its second year and has yet to take off. Simply put, fans just aren’t showing that much interest in it, which has led to an inevitable drop in viewers. A 10% drop, to be exact.
Why NBA Cup Viewership is Down in the 2024-25 Season
📉 NBA Cup viewership: Down 10%
📉 ESPN viewership: Down 28%
📉 Playoff viewership: Down 12%
NBA viewership is in serious decline all across the board. To put it simply, fans are tuning out in the millions, which has been a major issue ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. And the fact that the NBA Cup — a brand new championship — is already starting to lose viewers is perhaps the biggest cause for concern. After all, if a new championship was launched during the Michael Jordan or Kobe eras, it would be booming in terms of overall attraction. But with the NBA having been in decline for several years, launching a new type of regular-season tournament was always going to be a bit of a risk, as there was ultimately no guarantee that fans were going to take to it.
When it comes to why viewership is down for the NBA Cup, there are quite a few contributing factors. The main one is that half of the league’s fans can’t watch their teams play outside of cable without having to pay for expensive streaming packages, causing them a major financial headache (not to mention, keeping track of which games are showing on which specific platforms is extremely confusing for the average fan). On top of this, you also have an ultra-crowded sports calendar, a lack of big-name NBA players, the recent US election, and a whole host of injuries to key NBA players. Not to mention, the NBA Cup itself just isn’t as exciting as most fans expected it to be, hence why the championship has failed to get off the ground in the way that many executives thought it would.
So, with expert betting site Gamble USA reporting that viewership of the NBA Cup’s group stage is officially averaging 1.33 million viewers on ESPN and TNT — a 10% drop from its debut season — it seems inevitable that the NBA is going to take action before viewership takes an even bigger hit moving forward. The organization just recently signed a huge deal with ESPN, NBCU, and Amazon surrounding streaming rights, with reports suggesting that the NBA is planning to make games more accessible and easier to watch via this new deal. If this actually happens, then it would likely give the NBA a significant viewership boost, at least in the short-term.
Another big issue that the NBA needs to address is the overuse of three point shooting. This has been causing major frustration amongst fans for a long time (just check social media after any regular-season NBA game), with the consistent complaint being that there are way too many three pointers per game. In a way, the NBA has turned into a three point shooting contest, as most players are now spamming this type of shot almost every single game. Not only does it make games uninteresting to watch, but it’s also causing fans of all the major franchises to start tuning out. Compared to the NBA games from the ‘90s and 2000s, the difference in quality is clear to see.
How to Improve the NBA Cup
Outside of the NBA’s internal issues, the NBA Cup itself can also be improved to start attracting more viewers again. How? Well, a good strategy would be to start by making each team play each other twice within their groups. Next, experiment with rule changes (e.g. no corner threes) so that the games are significantly more interesting. Then, start the cup slightly later in the season and make sure the finals take place during the All Star Weekend so that viewership can be maximized. And if you really want to make things interesting, think about including the NBA G League, as this would give lesser teams a shot at glory and make the NBA Cup a lot more exciting to watch.
The good news is that those are just some of the ways the NBA Cup can be improved. In reality, there are also plenty of other ways that the cup can be improved, too. The NBA knows this, so don’t be surprised to see some fresh changes during the 2025-26 season. After all, the NBA doesn’t have much option, as making changes is pretty much the only way they’re going to get viewers back on side.
Has the NBA Cup been successful since being introduced to the NBA in 2023? Not as much as people hoped it would be. However, it can be improved in countless different ways and ultimately saved from irrelevancy, but only if the NBA takes action soon before it’s too late. These changes will likely come soon — potentially even as soon as next season — so let’s wait and see what happens.
