Winning Time: Why The NBA Was So Unpopular In The 1970s
In HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Jerry Buss buys the Los Angeles Lakers, but many believe it's an unwise investment given the NBA's unpopularity in the 1970s. His mother refers to the team as a "money pit," and at a meeting of NBA owners, there are jokes about the league's low TV ratings. This may come as a shock to modern viewers, who know the NBA as one of the world's most successful sports leagues, but it is accurate of the time period of 1979 when basketball was struggling to gain popularity for a variety of reasons.
Created by Adam McKay and using his distinctive fourth-wall-breaking style, Winning Timeis a stylized account of the real-life history of how the Lakers became the NBA's biggest dynasty, raising the league's popularity along the way. The NBA got started later than North America's other «Big 4» leagues, beginning in 1945. While the NFL took advantage of the rise of television, the NBA struggled to surpass the existing fanbases of older leagues like MLB and NHL. Average attendance was around 8,000 per game, meaning arenas were often at half capacity or less. The 1979 NBA finals did a 7.2 rating, a meager number in an era where there were only three networks. Many teams were losing money, and while none ceased operations, the future of the league seemed shaky when Jerry and his daughter, Jeanie Buss became involved with the Lakers.
RELATED: Winning Time Sets Up The Epic 1980s Lakers/Celtics Rivalry
Sadly, many commentators at the time attributed the league's difficulties to the dominance of Black athletes and racist audience attitudes. It was only a decade after the height of the Civil Rights movement and the end of legal segregation in the southern United States, and there were
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