The NBA ratings are down 48 percent from 2012 and 28 percent on ESPN year over year. The new in-season tournament is a dud. Tickets for the semifinals and championship game cost less than a steak and fries.

We listed the reasons for the NBA’s decline earlier this week. They include load management, a trivial regular season, too much three-point shooting, and a reputation for upholding far-left social and political causes.

And as FS1 host Colin Cowherd added on Friday, the league is out of touch with normal, working-class Americans – who remain the backbone of this country. Just like the Democrat Party.

“The NBA ratings are down 4 percent in the last 12 years and they have fallen off a cliff this year,” Cowherd began. “Adam Silver’s solution is let’s make the courts brighter. “It is a really bad look for a family of four to go to a game and the [stars] don’t play.

“Go ask the Democrats. Be warned, once you detach from regular people in America, you will pay a price.”

Kamala Harris paid in November. 

For all the talk about racism, sexism, and Russia (again), Donald Trump defeated Harris for three primary reasons: the cost of living, the border, and the Democrats’ failure to connect with the middle class.

We discussed the latter reason in detail in a post-election column about how the Democrats lost ordinary Americans. Specifically, the Democrat firm Blueprint found that swing voters felt “Harris focused more on culture war issues than helping the middle class.” In fact, this was the most frequent criticism among swing voters who broke for Trump (+28).

Further, the Financial Times organized a chart to demonstrate how the Democrats’ approach to cultural issues shifted the party sharply leftward, leaving the median voter behind.

You can read the full column below:

Cowherd’s comparison of the NBA and the Democrat Party is astute. The NBA is the league of the elites, the cool kids, social media, and DEI.

That’s great in terms of positive media coverage. But the disconnect between the media and the average American has never been larger than it is today. 

LeBron James recently bragged that he is “woke.” That’s nice to hear. However, most Americans are not “woke.” Most of them can’t stand the “woke.” In fact, just 8 percent of the electorate supports “woke” politics.

But Rachel Maddow said … 

Stop. Maddow’s ratings are down 53 percent since the election. She, too, is out of touch with most of the country.

Yes, the Hollywood stars still show up courtside for the NBA. Those same stars endorsed Kamala Harris. She lost all seven swing states and ground in New Jersey.

Normal people don’t care if Samuel L. Jackson prefers the NBA. He is rich enough to attend games and not mind if LeBron or Giannis Antetokounmpo choose to sit out because they are tired or don’t want to play back-to-back nights. Normal people do mind. They spend months saving up to attend just one game a year.

Sure, NBA stars forcing their way out of small markets to Los Angeles and New York is convenient for the coastal elites. Then there’s the rest of the country. They are tired of supporting a team that caves each time a star demands a trade because #playerempowerment.

There’s a reason MLB thumps the NBA in popularity in most local markets across the country.

The NFL is averaging 17.3 million viewers this season, its highest average since 2015. This past World Series was the highest-rated since 2017. The ratings for college football, UFC, golf, boxing, and college basketball are each up substantially compared to 2023.

The NBA is the only notable league that’s not. The NBA is the only professional sports league hemorrhaging viewers.

In 2023, working-class Americans proved that they still controlled the marketplace by boycotting brands like Bud Light, Disney, and Target for embracing far-left political concepts like gender theory.

Working-class Americans still have the numbers on their side. And when they are dismissed, they have the power to rebel by taking their business elsewhere.

Former NBA fans have taken their business elsewhere.

The NBA should start worrying less about what the New York Times and TikTok think and more about what actual sports fans think. Without real sports fans, the NBA is a niche sport catered to elites and whiny progressives. And, guess what, as the election proved, while they are loud, there aren’t that many of them.