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The NBA has had several franchise-altering stars go down with season-ending injuries. Franchises like the New York Knicks and New Orleans Pelicans have seen their seasons change because of injuries to their big men. What if there was a way to prevent injuries from happening? The answer is simple, go from 82 to 66 games. Realistically, owners will not approve this since they believe they would lose money, however, they would actually gain from this.
The first thing is how the number 66 comes about. There are 30 teams currently in the NBA; the teams would face off against each other twice and play four times against divisional opponents. This emphasizes the divisional matchups and gives fans a chance to see their favorite player come to town at least once. The 66 game schedule would take place through the same 26 weeks that the 2017-2018 regular season schedule works under, which could eliminate the back-to-backs and the amount of three games in four days, also giving players a chance to recover and decrease the number of injuries.
Since there would be 66 games, half would be home, and the other half would be on the road. The 33 home games will garner more fans into the arena since each game has more of an impact. According to NBA.com, the league has set their all-time, regular-season attendance record.
On one of Bill Simmons’ final podcasts for ESPN, he said about the NBA that “there is this pressure to just go [all]out all the time… It’s not sustainable… You’re going to be playing through some injury and pretend you don’t have it, and I just wonder if these guys go too hard and do we have to reduce the season now.” The point is that the players will play hurt and influence playoff seeding if they go down with a serious injury.
Just think about it, if LeBron James was to have a season-ending injury, attendance at Cleveland Cavalier games would decrease as the drawing power is gone; if the players are healthy, fans will come. If the fans come to the games, the television ratings will go up as more people are interested in the league, and if the television rights increase, the 30 owners will also see an increase in cash.
The teams make more money, players are healthier and fans are more interested throughout the entire season since the quality of play is improved. So, who could possibly lose if the NBA adopts a schedule change?
