sonicsfans.jpg
New research shows Seattle has some of the lowest interest in the NBA among fans nationwide, although a new team could change that. (AP image)

Despite the hype, numbers show little NBA interest in Seattle

BY Josh Kerns  on January 16, 2013 @ 12:49 pm (Updated: 10:48 am - 1/25/13 )

KIRO Radio's Luke Burbank is among the hard core basketball fans who can't wait for the NBA to return to Seattle. But even though there's been plenty of excitement the past week as word of a potential sale of the Sacramento Kings swirled, some new research says the city might not be nearly as much of a basketball hotbed as rabid fans like Luke believe.

Seattle Times researcher Gene Balk did some digging into the numbers and found people in Seattle have some of the lowest interest in the NBA among a number of major metro areas.

In an interview with the Luke Burbank Show, Balk says he found only 4.1 percent of people in the area expressed a "very high" level of interest in the NBA, with only Harrisburg, PA and Green Bay, WI being the only metro areas having less interest. That ranks us 75th in NBA interest nationwide, slightly lower than even Spokane.

The numbers were taken from surveys done in 2011 and 2012 after the Sonics left for Oklahoma City. But Balk says they definitely raise questions about how much fans here are actually interested in the NBA.

"What surprised me was just the degree to which it dropped and that's why I thought there was an interesting story there," he says.

Perhaps more surprising were the numbers even before the Sonics left town. You'd figure there would be a huge number of fans for the team and the NBA after all those years, but Balk says that wasn't the case.

"Relatively, it was still below the national average even with the team here," he says. "The percentage of people in this market who said they were very interested in the NBA ranged from about 6 percent to a high of a little under 9 percent, and the average nationally is about 10 percent year after year."

Balk says it's clear fan support is higher when the team is doing well. When the Sonics made the playoffs in 2005, fan interest spiked at 8.9 percent saying they were "very interested." But even then, he found our market still only ranked 27th when it came to the highest level of interest in the NBA. By comparison, he found nearly a third of the population in San Antonio expressed the highest level of interest in that period.

While he's confident landing a new team will rejuvenate NBA fan interest, he says the numbers show the NBA's return isn't necessarily a slam dunk.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (15)


  • Add A Comment

  • doublej wrote...
    Sounds about right
    January 16, 2013 2:03 pm
    We talk about it at work all the time. There's one guy who is happy they might be coming back and 17 of us who don't care.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Dan1 wrote...
    The Sacramento Kings are as garbage as they come
    January 16, 2013 2:09 pm
    The Mariners won't be the only horrible team if the Kings come here.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Skykomish2 wrote...
    So far...
    January 16, 2013 2:35 pm
    Nobody I've talked with here at work wants them. Overpaid elitists. Bring on Hockey!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • calapete wrote...
    so why would Hansen, Nordstrom and Balimer put up 525 million?
    January 16, 2013 2:36 pm
    these guys are not dummies. They obviously know they can make money, or they wouldn't be doing it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sghouse wrote...
    Maybe...
    January 16, 2013 2:52 pm
    or it might just be an ego trip for mega-rich guys that have more money than they could count in a lifetime. So what if they lose a few million? They've plenty more...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • dbhawkfan84 wrote...
    SONICS!
    January 16, 2013 2:39 pm
    BRING EM' BACK! YOU KNOW WHERE MY VOTE STANDS. ITS NOT THE SONICS FAULT THAT SEATTLE HAS THE WORST FANS IN THE COUNTRY, OR LACK THERE OF. THAT BEING SAID GO SONICS! AND GO HAWKS!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zoeller wrote...
    Bring them back-
    January 16, 2013 2:52 pm
    I have a brand new never worn winter sonics jacket that I won in a contest years ago sitting in a closet still wrapped in its original bag. I would like to wear it some day. I would never pay to go see a game but I would watch them on TV.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sghouse wrote...
    Ebay that jacket!
    January 16, 2013 3:02 pm
    some sports chump will likely pay big bucks for it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleNative wrote...
    $156 Million
    January 16, 2013 2:55 pm
    That's what the Maloofs paid for the Kings in 1998.

    NBA owners can lose money annually and still make out like bandits.

    I can't imagine how intelligent people like Hansen and Ballmer could have overlooked Initiative 91 when trying to cut a deal with the city...

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    That's because basketball is boring as hell.
    January 16, 2013 3:23 pm
    And the risk of getting shot at a game is about 100 times higher than any other sport...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Oly80 wrote...
    i don't know...
    January 17, 2013 7:18 am
    ever been to a raiders game?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    typical liberal lies...
    January 16, 2013 5:13 pm
    Firstly, I couldn't care less about basketball in Seattle...I personally will never attend. What I do care about is the truth. The truth is, the link to the "studies" is pretty wanting as it still doesn't reference which studies and their methodology. Furthermore, it utilizes a chart that is dishonest. For example, it shows interest for Basketball at 4.1% and the greatest interest in Albany NY at 5.4%. Now the truth is, the population of Albany is under 100,000...so that 5.4% represents about 5400 people, whereas the population of Seattle is over 616,000 people, so that 4.1% represents over 25,000 people. But the chart used at the link just shows the percent support and not the actual headcount. No wonder progressives are screwing up our economy and nation...they don't grasp reality or have an inkling on how to analyze data.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Flyguru wrote...
    Seattle Times is anti-Sonics, anti-arena biased so not surprised.
    January 16, 2013 5:28 pm
    We lost pro basketball to a thief from OKC a long time ago. Is it any wonder interest in the sport has dwindled ?? I would say "...out of sight, out of mind..." applies here. It's all about choices. Having a new arena where a grampa can take his grandkids to watch NBA basketball or NHL hockey is a good thing I think.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }