• The NBA Cup, formerly known as the In-Season Tournament, begins knockout-stage play on Tuesday.
• NBA ratings are down by 17% so far this season, but NBA Cup games have outperformed the trend.
• League executives say they aren't sweating lower ratings and are excited about the NBA Cup.

The NBA is battling an early-season ratings slump, but league executives told Business Insider they're confident the slide will be short-lived, as the knockout round of its second in-season tournament tips off on Tuesday night.

NBA ratings were down from last year by 17% for nationally televised games and by 8% for local games this season through December 6, according to Nielsen. A few months ago, the NBA locked up an 11-year, $76 billion TV contract with Disney's ESPN, Comcast's NBC, and Amazon.

Cord-cutting contributed to those declines, as pay-TV subscriptions fell by nearly 7% in the first half of 2024.

The NBA execs who spoke with BI said that besides cord-cutting, factors behind the viewership hit included a crowded sports calendar, the US elections, and injuries to All-Star-caliber players.

"We have had just some unfortunate luck early season," said Evan Wasch, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball strategy and analytics.

Despite early-season ratings declines, there's been a bright spot: Fans seem especially interested in the NBA Cup. Viewership for group-play games in that in-season tournament was 7% higher on national TV and 9% higher in local markets versus non-Cup games this season, though it's still off by 10% compared with last year's tournament matches.

"We were a little bit swimming upstream with some of those early-season challenges," Wasch said. "But we're definitely seeing some strength, especially when we have top matchups on — and certainly with the NBA Cup games."

The Cup runneth over

The NBA last year instituted an In-Season Tournament, now called the NBA Cup, to drum up interest early in the season, when it competes with the NFL and college football.

All 30 NBA teams compete in group-play games, which count toward regular-season records and tournament rankings. Then comes a single-elimination knockout round in Las Vegas.

While there was some confusion about the tournament in its first year, players and fans now appear to know what's going on.

"That education piece was still our upside opportunity," said Jenny Whitlock, the NBA's head of global fan marketing.

Analysts have said in the past two years that competition is more intense than usual in NBA Cup games — an encouraging sign for the league in a slower time of the season.

"The thing that resonated most with fans was the level of intensity and player buy-in in the first year, because that was a big unknown," Wasch said.

Las Vegas may get more than the NBA Cup

Among the contenders for this year's NBA Cup are veteran teams and up-and-comers, plus a mix of major markets like New York and Atlanta and smaller ones like Orlando and Milwaukee.

League executives hope that young stars will break out during the knockout round — like Tyrese Haliburton did for the Indiana Pacers last year — as household names like LeBron James age.

"We want to make sure that people come into these competitions knowing what's at stake, who's the standout, who are the names that they should know about," Whitlock said.

The NBA hopes that knockout-round games will draw stronger viewership than group-play games, as they did last year. But ratings may partly depend on whether popular big-market teams advance.

As for what's next for the NBA, its commissioner has hinted at expanding the league to 32 teams. Many analysts believe the leading cities for the next two NBA franchises are Seattle and Las Vegas, which is already home to the NBA Cup's knockout round.

Las Vegas has boomed in popularity as sports betting has become legal across the US. Sin City has added three — soon to be four — major sports teams since 2017, and it's the center of the NBA world this week. In the coming years, it could become a more permanent home for the league.