Adam Silver gets heat for saying NBA ‘a highlights-based sport’ fans can see on Instagram, TikTok

Adam Silver would like that phrasing back.

Silver has faced criticism in recent days for a quote that came off as tone deaf to fans. When asked on Wednesday about the expense of being an NBA fan — from the cost of attending games to the need for fans to subscribe to multiple streaming services to watch all their team’s games — the quote pulled out of Silver’s answer was cold.

“There’s a huge amount of our content that people essentially consume for free. This is very much a highlights-based sport, so Instagram, TikTok, Twitter [now X]… YouTube, another example that is advertising based that consumers can consume,” Silver said.

Silver misses the mark in a couple of places in that clip. First, there’s the “Hey fans, if you can’t afford the streaming services just go to social media” vibe that is not what fans want to hear. Second, the NBA just secured a massive new television deal because of its value to streaming services; telling fans they can look elsewhere is not what the league’s partners want to hear.

But Silver’s comment was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be. Mark Cuban even defended him.

First, Silver was not wrong — for a younger generation of fans, highlights on social media (and clips of debate about the league) is how they consume the NBA. They are less likely to sit down in front of a television (or at a bar) to watch regular season NBA games. The league must adapt to ensure it still reaches those fans.

Also, Silver’s comments about the cost are not so harsh when read in the full context of his response. Silver is not someone who speaks in clips, he gives long, thoughtful answers, ones often couched in legal phrases (he is a lawyer, after all). In the full quote, Silver’s answer doesn’t sound cold.

“[The reporter] took all the different streaming services and added them up and what those costs would be. I look at it a little bit differently, because most people can only consume so many games,” Silver said. “By way of one example, in these new media deals, we’re going from essentially 15 exposures on broadcast television to 75. So to the extent someone wants to put little rabbit ears on their television, you can still get 75 marquee games in essence for free in the marketplace…

“Because of the disruption in the regional sports network business — I never would have predicted this was coming 10 years ago — but a lot of our local games are moving back to broadcast television. In fact, we have more games on broadcast television locally than we’ve had anytime in recent history.”

Streaming services also appear to be the future of the broadcast industry, which is why NBC will have games on Peacock — every game nationally broadcast on NBC will also be streamed on Peacock, plus there will be exclusive Monday night games on Peacock. The value the NBA provides in bringing in viewers is why Amazon Prime will also carry games.

The NBA’s larger concern is helping viewers know where to tune in to watch games on a given night.

Of course, fans can always still catch the highlights on TikTok.