At times, the last minute of a National Basketball Association game takes almost 10 minutes to end, causing fans to lose attention. That is why NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the league eyes to speed up end of games in an attempt to remedy the short attention span of younger fans or millennials.
Silver, after the Denver Nuggets thrashed the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night in London, 140-112, told the media that there is a possibility that the league will look into reducing timeouts during end of games, ESPN reported. The three-year commissioner reasoned out that millennials have "increasingly short attention spans" and that as a business, it is something they need to pay attention to.
Aside from speeding games, Silver added that the NBA can also look at minute-by-minute ratings to determine which parts of the game fans are watching and parts which the fans tune out. It is undeniable that during timeouts, millennials often resort to using their phones to check on their social media accounts.
In 2012, the NBA already made a move to shorten games by implementing a 90-second limit for players to get to their marks on center court following introductions, Yahoo Sports reported. That rule, which comes with a delay of game penalty, halted players from taking too long when doing handshakes with players and other members of the team.
Also, Silver said that the league is also looking into increasing the number of overseas game but they are still weighing the chances in terms of quality of arena and the amount of interest by fans. He added that with the finalization of the new collective bargaining agreement, they are close into adding an extra week in the season that will mean more days of rest between regular season games.
The league aims to have a solid presence in the Middle East and the United Kingdom and maybe have a preseason game in Australia.
Watch the video below for the whole press conference of Silver: