The NBA and the NFL are statistically the two most popular sports in the United States, with the NFL leading the pack. While Parker Anderson is the only Spear Member that believes that the NBA is better than the NFL, we in the Spear feel required to prove him wrong in everything, all the time. Lets get into it; The NBA will never be more popular than the NFL because:

1. NBA Regular Seasons Are Long And Irrelevant

The NBA and NHL have 82 game seasons, which in turn makes each game less important. If a team has a great record, they can sit their best players for extended periods of time to prevent possible injuries. While there are rules against it, NBA teams still do it every year. They will also sit players if they are eliminated from playoff contention with time left in the season (LeBron James is the best example here).

2. The NBA Does Not Have “A Day”

Everyone knows that Sunday is football day. Basketball does not have it’s own day, which can lead to disinterest from fans, because they might not always know when their team is playing. While it is very logical for the NBA to have games every day, the lack of their own “day” hurts their viewership.

3. The NBA Has NO Loyalty

In the NFL, sometimes key players switch teams during the offseason, but loyalty is generally preserved. The NBA lost its sense of loyalty in 2010, when LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to try to win a ring in Miami. Yes, he returned to the Cavs in 2014, but since then, star players have been asking for trades/leaving during free agency on a yearly basis (Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, etc.). Fans want a core to their team, people that they can trust will stick around, but that is too rare in the NBA nowadays. Most fans won’t buy a jersey for a player that they like if that player will likely be gone in two years or less. The NFL has this loyalty, which keeps its fanbase around.

4. Lack Of Defense By Star Players

The best example of this is James Harden. He rarely gives effort on defense because he knows that he can score more often than they can. There are some players that play great defense, and this is not to discredit them, but overall, great players don’t play great defense. Defense is half of the sport, and the lack of star players playing defense is alarming when a fan is watching them play.

5. The NBA Is Too Predictable

Every year there are some upsets in the NBA, and different playoff teams make it each year, but the fact that the NBA Finals featured the Golden State Warriors Vs The Cleveland Cavaliers for four straight years shows that in the NBA, superteams are too easy to make. The Warriors are potentially going to win their third championship in a row this year, displaying their superiority over everyone else. The closest the NFL has to a superteam would probably be the New England Patriots, who have 3 straight Super Bowl appearances. However, each year new teams make the Super Bowl to represent the NFC, and with Tom Brady aging and Bill Belichick nearing retirement, the Patriots will not be a superteam for much longer. The NFL is significantly less predictable than the NBA, which allows for fans to have hope that their team will make the playoffs after a rough season the year before.

Extra Reason: TV Deals

In the NFL, a region’s “home team” will be available to watch on broadcast TV, along with a few other games on gameday. The NBA does not have these types of TV deals. Instead, the home team, for example, the Denver Nuggets, is regularly broadcasted by Altitude Sports, which is only available on select DirecTV, Dish, and Comcast TV plans. Not many people have these plans, causing a lack of people that can even watch the Nuggets without attending a game.