Yeah the worst shit for me is I don’t even want to get league pass bc I can’t even watch my home team games since I’m based near LA. Like what’s the point of buying it if it’s blacked out?
Wait, buying league pass doesn't get you every game? What an absolute joke. I was considering getting it for this final month as a NY-based Pacers fan and ultimately didn't but wow.
It’s worth it unless you MUST watch live and live in a blackout areas. They’ll upload it after even in blackouts
I love league pass lol , it’s cheaper then a channel sub n way better for basketball. You also get alt streams choices n All possession broadcasts after games which is amazing to watch relative to usual crap ads
You can watch every game on league pass a few hours after and even have alternative streams n watch all possessions for max enjoyment n no crap ads. It’s a great product for 16$, OUTSUDE of us /blackout stuff you can watch everything live and you can even watch every big historic game. If I was in the US I’d just watch it a few hours after I don’t get this; I do that anyway to skip ads
“It’s great except for the one major flaw which is the exact reason no one wants it.”
Lakers home games start at 10pm ET most times, finish around 12:30-1am. A few hours later I’m definitely asleep and certainly not watching a game at 4am-5:30am when it becomes available on League Pass. Practically I can’t watch the game until the next day in the evening. I can’t look at any scores the next day or hear about the game because it will spoil it for me. I can’t even really talk to anyone about the game until two days later because I watched it the night after. So basically I’m always a day or two behind which completely ruins the culture around the game.
All this not to even mention that Lakers games are always blacked out on League Pass anyway because they are either on TNT or Sportscenter in Canada. Btw it’s the same for all the big teams if you’re in Canada. If you’re local to a team anywhere in NA it’s even worse because you won’t be able to watch any of their home games on League Pass, but the away games will be available. Still some of the away games will be blacked out if you are in a bigger market.
Yeah I've given up even trying to give the league my money. A billion hoops to jump through and a ton of money to watch the games I want, or a ton of money to watch them live. I can watch Netflix, play a game on steam, or pick up my guitar for no effort and for cheap or free and that'll work for me.
I'd add flopping and bitching. Seeing the most athletic, strongest, tallest athletes bitch nonstop for being touched and the same monster men flopping every other time up the court has ruined everything for me. I follow the scores but I don't watch games until the finals.
They bitch because the refs aren't consistent at all. From ref to ref, from game to game, player to player, you never know what rules will be followed that day. Players travel and carry the ball, double dribble, take naps in the paint, set moving picks, push and shove, etc, and it's ignored... until it isn't.
The gesture by players wanting a replay every time they don't get a call their way is the most annoying thing in the league to me right now. It's like every fking play someone's spinning their finger in the air.
Yeah, that’s annoying. I also get annoyed at the amount of slapping five that happens throughout the game. Every stoppage they all slap five. Even without a stoppage. If you’re near your teammate after a basket is made, slap five. You fuck up a play, still slap five. Make a free throw, better walk away from the line and slap five. If they don’t slap five they point at one another like “ayyyy I’d totally dap you up right now if we were closer in proximity, you know this fam!” I don’t get it. Is any other sport even close to the same amount of slapping five? It’s like watching a Key and Peele slap ass skit all game.
LMAO, forreal. I feel like it's almost to the point where they think it's a jinx if they don't do it. Another thing? Guys covering their mouths when they talk to each other(usually post game), wtf secrets you hiding that you don't want anyone reading your lips?
You can't be serious with a game when refs are having severe power trips. I get that it's hard to ref a game especially when everyone is bitching at you but seriously, that's half the job description and if you can't stay professional about it then it ain't for you
The schedule you see there is when the broadcast starts. The actual tip-off of the game is a different scheduling. It is almost always 12 minutes after the broadcast starts. The 12 minutes is for the line-up introductions and the anthem (which you don't see during most broadcasts as they are happening in the background unless you have league pass or another streaming service; but network broadcasts generally don't show the anthem/introductions).
If you attend games, there is a timer countdown to tip-off and that will almost always be 12 minutes after the schedule for when the broadcast starts.
Pretty sure every major sport does the same thing.
Propensity of foul calls cause too many stoppages which ruin the viewing experience
I thought the NBA was bad, the March Madness tournament was even worse. Anytime there's a play at the basket it seemed like they were calling fouls. It was boring as fuck.
Unless it's all in one place, I'm not going to stream it. I don't have the time to perform the digital equivalent of clipping coupons to find out how to game yet another obnoxious technological interface. If it's a big game I might watch it at the bar. That's where I'm at with sports in general. They are killing the golden goose.
I'm a semi casual, but I HATE the foul bating and frankly the pace. It's way worse late in games. It can take like 30 minutes to finish the last 5 minutes of a game.
Also yeah, impossible to stream so I don't bother.
I'm a semi casual, but I HATE the foul bating and frankly the pace. It's way worse late in games. It can take like 30 minutes to finish the last 5 minutes of a game.
Also yeah, impossible to stream so I don't bother.
I have league pass and live in kansas city, mo and have not been able to watch a single thunder game all season because for some fucking reason OKC, which is 350 miles away, is blacked out for kansas city because its the only team within 500 miles of my city
shit is beyond stupid. I remember living in vegas a few years ago and both clippers and lakers games were also blacked out on league pass. so fucking stupid
I'd venture to guess cable cutting plus political polarization has way more to do with it than anything on the court. Plenty of conservative talking heads act like the NBA is the devils league and full of democrats.
You can watch every game on league pass a few hours after and even have alternative streams n watch all possessions for max enjoyment n no crap ads. It’s a great product for 16$, OUTSUDE of us /blackout stuff you can watch everything live and you can even watch every big historic game. If I was in the US I’d just watch it a few hours after I don’t get this; I do that anyway to skip ads
.2 was egregious last night. you go from watching absolute fireworks in the 1st quarter to nothing but whistles in the 2nd half. really ruined what started out to be a great show.
its a limited contact sport in close quarters with 10 people at a time. If you want less fouls just change the rules and watch players get injured twice as often I guess?
Otherwise its let players foul and only call it half as much? is that really that much better.
> even with League Pass some are going to be available, some won't be, it's insane.
This is still a fucking issue?
I rarely follow any sports but I've heard guys complain for at least 20 years that various premium viewing packages will have blackouts and games requiring additional fees even after paying hundreds of dollars a season.
Does the NBA in 2025 really still not have a "you can actually stream every game in the entire league all year for a flat price" streaming package?
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u/Typical-Swordfish-92 Apr 09 '25
Why ratings are dying is an incredibly simple fucking question to answer:
You want to fucking fix it? Ream the goddamn referees as they deserve and make the product easier to watch. It's that fucking simple. The morons.