In theory, an NBA All-Star Game is every fan’s dream. The best players in the league lining up head-to-head, and duking it out in a spectacular display of athleticism and inspired competition. Big names, bright lights, and bragging rights, a sporting paradise.
As we all know, this could not be further from reality in professional basketball, football, or hockey. While the MLB All-Star Game remains mostly competitive (you would be hard-pressed to find a way to slow down baseball), the unfortunate, half-speed state of the other three major all-star games has fans everywhere questioning the purpose of such stale sporting spectacles.
The modern NBA All-Star Game is best described as a battle to avoid injury. A glorified alley-oop contest in which defense is optional, if not discouraged, and perspiring is not advised.
If you can’t get enough of this “action,” there’s also the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, featuring a slew of actors and musicians attempting to demonstrate that they possess skills beyond faking accents and auto-tuning their records. If anything, Kevin Hart’s routine theatrics are the only thing keeping this portion of NBA All-Star Weekend relevant.
This string of lackluster on-court performances exhibited by the NBA’s finest has undoubtedly diminished the appeal of fan voting, which, in the words of the outspoken Mark Cuban, saw an “embarrassing” turnout this year as a result of a “broken” process.
The NBA altered the voting process for the 2015 All-Star Game to increase digital participation from fans. With the elimination of paper ballots, fans, alone, were given the opportunity to vote on the game’s ten starters via text message, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the NBA’s own site, and several more apps and online sources.
The coaches from each conference then privately vote to fill the reserve roster spots. For the first time ever, all NBA players were eligible to receive votes.
The voting window was open for 40 days, 27 days shorter than in previous years; and opened in December, rather than November, to push the voting closer to the actual event. Under this format, fans are allowed to vote for ten different players everyday the window is open, potentially giving each fan the chance to vote up to 400 times.
These changes resulted in a total of 25 million votes cast from around the world, a 28 percent increase from last season.
Still, Cuban feels as though this is a paltry representation of the NBA’s global fanbase.
Despite numerous voting outlets and the possibility of several hundred votes per person, only five players amassed over one million votes, with Steph Curry leading the way at 1.5 million. The expanse of internet connection and social media guarantees widespread accessibility, yet easy access and a direct influence on All-Star Game selections is not enticing NBA fans as much as Cuban believes it should.
Considering the NBA’s massive worldwide appeal, especially its vast audience in China, the Mavericks’ Owner may have a point. Although I do not agree with Cuban’s proposition to eliminate fan voting, the system clearly needs to adjust to attract more involvement.
To remedy this situation, SportTechie offers a series of solutions:
Incentivize Voting
This concept is neither revolutionary in nature nor overly difficult to implement. Technology has enabled the most convenient all-star voting process in sports history, yet there is little incentive to contribute to a game that holds only marginal entertainment and emotional weight. Instead, the NBA could offer a number of giveaways for fans who chose to vote. The more fans participate in the voting process, the greater their likelihood of winning desirable reward.
Prizes could range from an all-expenses-paid trip to the weekend’s showcase, to a pair of center court tickets, to NBA merchandise. Building off their already simple voting scheme, each time a fan votes on one of the eligible platforms, their name could be automatically entered into a drawing for one of many prizes offered, increasing fan incentive to vote early, and vote often.
Although this idea does not improve the validity of the All-Star Game, itself, viewership will likely increase as a greater number of engaged fans will feel a connection to the voting process.
Rebrand the All-Star Game Around the Individual Fan
This may not exactly be the most technological response to low fan voting turnouts, but it could be a viable step to engage more fans in the voting process, and could also work in combination with promotional giveaways.
Many fans are likely turned off by voting because they feel as though their individual votes will not make a difference in the long run. As a result, fans of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Sacramento Kings, and other small market teams may not be inspired to vote for their deserving stars, such as Zach Randolph or DeMarcus Cousins (admitted this year as an injury replacement), due to the harsh reality that more popular players will almost always receive an overwhelming majority of votes, regardless of injury or statistical struggles (*cough* Kobe Bryant *cough*).
Instead, the NBA should look to emphasize the role of the individual fan in the voting process. Again, each fan could potentially vote up to 400 times–plenty to ensure that small market fans have a voice in determining the All-Star starters, if they choose to utilize the digital tools available to them.
Marketing the NBA All-Star Game more as an event for the entire NBA community on ESPN, NBA TV, and in commercials, rather than a solely player-centric event, could bolster fan participation. Encouraging individual teams to market the power their fan base’s role in voting is another major aspect of this proposition.
Alter the Main Competitions
Let’s face it.
With the current state of the All-Star Game, the Sprite Slam Dunk, and the rest of All-Star Weekend, the NBA faces an uphill battle in attracting large numbers of new fans to actively engage in voting. As I see it, the best way to approach this dilemma is to alter the diseased main event to add newfound excitement.
One such idea that frequently arises is supersizing the prize money offered to the winning side. Business is booming in the NBA, offer the stars some reward for taking time during their break from the regular season to go hard for one game.
If each winning player were to receive $250,000, which may seem like an exorbitant amount of money, you might actually see LeBron James play defense on Kevin Durant or real physicality in the paint. Let loose with the cash for the sake of competition. A five-figure prize that could be lost the following week for flopping won’t cut it.
Other such ideas involve adding a four-point shot, adding a one-on-one segment prior to the game, creating and enforcing “bad pass penalties,” the list goes on. Granted, these are not exactly tech-based solutions to the low voter turnout, but at the present moment, the reasons behind the absence of All-Star enthusiasm reside in the core of the event.
The NBA’s digital solutions to straightforward, rapid access to fan voting has established the foundation for widespread All-Star voting participation, but echoing Mark Cuban’s sentiments, the system is far from perfect.
Masses of NBA fans are not being reached, and many more lack interest. The NBA fans have spoken. It is time for a change.