POSTED: Tuesday November 29th 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NBA faithful not turned off by the lockout

ALMOST two thirds of NBA fans in the United States claim the lockout has had no negative impact on their enthusiasm for global basketball’s premier event, according to a new study by REPUCOM International.

Following last week's resolution between the National Basketball Association and its players, the stalemate that has delayed the 2011/12 season since its proposed November 1 start now appears to be over.

But the biggest question for broadcasters, owners and sponsors alike is just how much has the lockout impacted on the passion of the league’s millions of devotees across the United States? Brand analysis specialists REPUCOM International can now provide the answer.

New data from Sponsorlink, a bespoke market research tracking service, shows 63 per cent of fans claim the lockout has either had no negative effect whatsoever on their enthusiasm for the NBA. Indeed, of those, 6 per cent claim the autumn freeze actually aroused their interest in top-level US basketball.

“In recent years, we’ve seen both NFL and NHL bounce back from their own lockouts to strengthen their positions in the market,” Peter Laatz, Executive Vice President at REPUCOM said. “There's no reason why NBA can't do the same and, as our figures show, the fans' enthusiasm hasn't been too heavily impacted.”

As to whether the league’s major competitors stand to benefit in terms of game attendance or audience ratings from the lockout, the response was one of ambivalence. In all, 8 per cent of US NBA fans said they will attend more NFL or NHL matches as a result of the recent stalemate and 19 per cent would watch more NFL or NHL on TV because of the lockout. Laatz added: “I think the fans will respond well to the resolution that has been made between the teams and the players. And should this condensed 66-game season succeed in reaching the excitement levels of the 2010/11 term, I would expect any remaining ill feeling will evaporate pretty quickly.” REPUCOM will be monitoring the reaction every step of the way.

View full Media Release here:
http://www.sportundmarkt.com/fileadmin/Mailing/Repucom/NBA_Press_Release/20111129_REPUCOM_NBA_Press_Release.pdf

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Keywords · NBA · basketball · sport · lockout · US

Name: Barry Johnston
Organization: SPORT+MARKT
Email:
URL: www.sportundmarkt.com

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