NBA Commissioner’s Viral Comment Sparks a Sports Highlights Debate
Bleacher Report’s Katie Arkins is in the middle of one of the most important challenges in sports: Using game highlights on social media to get younger fans excited about watching full games.
Late last week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver inadvertently went viral on social media with a passing comment that quickly got under the skin of basketball fans. When asked during a press conference about how expensive being an NBA fan has become—mainly due to fragmented TV broadcasts and streaming price hikes—part of Silver’s response was that there are many free ways to watch, including via Instagram and TikTok.
“This is very much a highlights-based sport,” he said.
Swift came the backlash from keyboard warriors, who believed that Silver was either devaluing the NBA’s product by implying full games weren’t worth watching, or effectively telling those who can’t afford streaming subscriptions to watch scraps on YouTube. The result was an impassioned debate about the value and utility of sports highlights, which have been a form of popular entertainment since they were packaged on cable shows like Sports Center and Inside the NBA.