The length of those NBA and NHL seasons

3 thoughts on “The length of those NBA and NHL seasons”

1. Drew,

   There are so many games in hockey, basketball, and baseball seasons that it is hard to appreciate the meaning of any one game. In the middle of any of these sports’ seasons a win or loss is virtually meaningless. It only matters six months later for teams in the middle of the pack looking for playoff spots. The hard-core fans will go to every game they can. We middling fans, not so much. I look at the Avs, Nuggets, and Rockies and see their respective management putting out mid-tier teams, occasionally getting lucky with a sweet combination of coaching and players. My thought is that an ordinary single game in these sports has no intrinsic value because it is too small to the fortunes of the team.

   From an economics standpoint, if the number of games are reduced, there are less seats available and the games have more meaning. Thus demand is increased due to the greater scarcity plus larger intrinsic value. Not only do more seats get sold per game, but they can be sold at a higher price. So here is my thought… yeah, I’m finally getting to it… From a profit maximization standpoint, the mid-tier owners likely want less games. It is more likely the large market owners want more games since the “product” they sell with the bigger stars has an already larger perceived value which results in sell-outs.

   More importantly… what is going on with the guy in the booth reading the paper? Kinda looks like the Rocky or Westword. When you drew him, what were you thinking he was doing/reading/thinking?

   Mike

2. Good Morning from Omaha,

   this is a great cartoon, and it really hits the nail on the head, again.

   It seems like the entire NBA season is a preseason in preparation for the real season that has

   become the playoffs and championships. I agree with Mike but with a caveat in that our collective

   attention span is such that we loose interest in after a while.

   It also doesn’t help that the players don’t seem to care if they win or lose any particular game.

   As long as they win enough games to get into the playoff, they don’t push too hard.

   What are there 16 out of 32 teams in the NBA in the playoffs and almost the same situation exist in

   hockey. You almost have to try harder NOT to win to not make the playoffs and they were talking about

   expanding the playoffs to include almost anyone.

   And the NFL at one time was thinking about expanding the playoffs and adding another week to the playoffs. now they are talking about making the season 17-18 games long by doing away with 2

   of the overpriced pre season games.

   As a sports writer in Kansas City used to say the average fan cares more about the game than most of the players.

   Enough of the rant, off to see the wizard.

   Gene

3. The superbowl is in febuary, it snows during the world series, the nba finals are so late that the next seasons is already two weeks in before their finshed. Why god? Why?