Quote:
Originally Posted by dalakhani
I love the NBA. At the same time, how can you not question calls when the financial interests of the league depend on certain players going further in the playoffs?
Of course, refs can not entirely dictate the outcome of a game. At the same time, I can't deny that there are some key moments where a 50/50 game can be swung one way or the other.
The differences between the NBA and the way other sports leagues are marketed are many. One thing that David Stern changed in the marketing of the league was the emphasis he placed on marketing individual stars as opposed to entire teams. He has stated this in the past. It is important to the league that those stars get the most exposure. Again, it isn't going to change entire games and generally the best team wins. Sometimes, they are given a little extra help.
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Sure there is a little button that Stern pushes from the league office and activates the refs whistles when a close game is on the line.
While there is a certain truth to some of what you say, the matchups that have come through the last few years (with the exception of Boston/LA) are hardly the optimum revenue producers.
The game is marketed differently because the top players are far more important in basketball than they are in other sports. Payton Manning is probably the most important player to his team in football yet he isnt even on the field half the game. Same with baseball players. Not to mention that there are a whole lot fewer of them.
Missing FT's and not boxing out contribute to 10000 times more losses than some perceived ref bias.