Donald Trump Criticizing Player Protests Appears To Have Little Impact On NFL And NBA Ratings

One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s presidency has been his seemingly insatiable appetite for criticizing athletes who protest during the national anthem or speak out for racial justice. While it may be terrifying for sports executives to hear the president disparage their leagues, the evidence shows it’s wise to ignore Trump’s attacks. They appear to carry little impact on ratings and fan interest.

During an appearance Tuesday on Clay Travis’ radio show, which airs on Fox Sports Radio, Trump lambasted outspoken NBA players in vitriolic terms. Calling them “very, very, very nasty,” and “frankly, very dumb,” Trump said the players’ social activism is destroying the league. “It’s been horrible for basketball. Look at the basketball ratings. People are angry about it,” he said. “They have enough politics with guys like me. They don’t need more. There was a nastiness about the NBA and the way it was done. The NBA is in trouble. Big trouble.”

The NBA has taken an adversarial stance towards Trump, with the majority of the league’s star players, including LeBron James, vociferously expressing their disapproval of the president. Neither the Warriors nor Raptors elected to visit the White House following their championship wins, with Trump infamously disinviting Steph Curry from the ceremony, even though he had already declined to attend. The episode prompted James to call Trump a “bum.”

This summer, James and many other players have vowed to push social justice causes during the NBA’s restart, expressing their support for the nationwide protests against police brutality in Black communities. Last month, James delivered an impassioned plea to arrest the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor, a Black ER technician who who was unarmed when she was killed in her apartment last March.

During the league’s opening night, every player, including James, knelt during the national anthem — drawing the ire of Trump-aligned media personalities.

Several high-profile coaches, including Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, also frequently speak out against Trump. The president personally insulted Kerr last fall, calling him a “scared little boy” for his refusal to speak out against China’s human rights abuses. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is also a regular Trump critic.

With all of that history in mind, Trump railing against the NBA, and vice versa, isn’t new. But with TV ratings flatlining, Trump and his media allies are free to claim politically outspoken players are hurting business — similar to the case they made against the NFL in the aftermath of Colin Kaepernick’s protest.

There’s no doubt NBA ratings have slumped since the league returned from its coronavirus-induced hiatus. The first full week of bubble games were down 4% from the league’s pre-hiatus average, though viewership was 14% above the average following the first weekend.

But TV ratings don’t occur in a bubble. There are trends to consider, and the NBA was already experiencing a ratings decline, with numbers down more than 15% through last December. Commissioner Adam Silver said he wasn’t concerned at the time, telling the Washington Post about increased attendance numbers and astronomical social media engagement numbers. In 2018, the NBA was the most-tweeted about sports league in the U.S.

With cable TV losing over 6 million subscribers in 2019 alone, the NBA is at a distinct disadvantage, since the vast majority of its games are only available on cable. Moreover, it traditionally has the youngest fanbase of all major sports leagues, meaning it’s more susceptible to the ramifications of cord-cutting. Additionally, viewership among 18-34 year old cable TV subscribers has dropped 49% over the past four years, due to the popularity of streaming services.

There are myriad explanations for the NBA’s ratings struggles, just like there was when the NFL saw its ratings drop in 2016 and 2017. Since then, ratings have rebounded. The NFL saw its ratings grow for the second straight year in 2019, gaining 4% over 2018. It was the most-watched season since 2016.

Maybe the lack of player protests in recent years is the driving force behind the NFL’s comeback, though that seems doubtful. More likely, NFL viewership is cyclical, and it’s important to remember the league still dominated overall TV ratings even when it was supposedly struggling. In 2017, 37 of the 50 most-watched shows were NFL games.

League data also indicated Trump’s tweets carried a minimal impact on ratings, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. The numbers showed owners responding to Trump made the problem worse.

Trump poked at the NFL Tuesday, telling Travis if players won’t stand for the anthem, he hopes the league doesn’t start. Trump has been chiding Goodell all summer, ever since the commissioner said “Black Lives Matter.” But Goodell hasn’t responded, and he probably won’t.

Drew Brees did respond to Trump when the president castigated the QB for apologizing for his anti-kneeling stance, but instead of acquiescing, he expressed his disagreement. “We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities,” Brees wrote on Instagram.

Apparently, living in Louisiana, where Trump received 58% of the vote in 2016, didn’t dissuade Brees from defending himself.

In the first two weeks of protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, public support for Black Lives Matter increased almost as much as it had in the previous two years. With rapidly changing public sentiment, corporations have hurriedly endorsed the movement. Professional sports leagues are no different, even if the gestures can seem performative.

NASCAR is a perfect case study for the changing landscape. After banning the Confederate flag from racetracks, ratings increased by 104%, though they’ve dropped since the return of the NBA and NHL.

But NASCAR’s fall appears to be centered around competition, and not politics.

It’s apparent Trump views outspoken athletes, and Black athletes in particular, as prime targets. Trump’s official campaign Twitter account has already tweeted out two clips from his interview with Travis, both of which revolve NFL and NBA player protests.

While attacks on sports leagues may rile up Trump’s base, they don’t appear to reach the masses. The NFL and NBA can ignore the president. They have better games to play.