The NBA's Mr. Irrelevant

Throughout sports there are certain distinctions given based on an athletes level of play or a coaches ability to guide a team to victory. Some of the more famous titles dished out are Most Valuable Player or Coach of the Year or even Rookie of the Year. One title that athletes strive for is to be named the first pick in their draft class. With that is also the title of being a bust, which is something nobody wants on their resume. The one distinction that easily becomes a trivia question is "Who is this year's Mr. Irrelevant?".

For those that haven't heard this term before, it is given to the person drafted with the last pick. Professional football is where you hear about this the most, although it applies to every sport. For any given year, you can attach a name to Mr. Irrelevant. Unfortunately, when it comes to the grand scheme of the NBA, there has been the same person that has won this title over the last several years. And the title of Mr. Irrelevant goes to...The Fan.

If you have been paying attention to everything that has been transpiring in the NBA then you have undoubtedly heard the new "Player Usage" rule. In short, teams are not allowed to rest multiple superstars during the same game. There are some exemptions but you get the gist of it. One of the major factors leading to this rule is the perception of fans spending their hard earned money to see said superstars and finding out the superstar is not playing. I'm sure we all understand how this short changes the fan. For those two hours, eager fans are excited to cheer on their favorite athlete only to find out after they get to the game that their favorite player is in street clothes on the bench. So the focal point of this whole situation is the fan. Now how did we get to this point.

One thing that has become talked about more and more is the importance of the fan. Originally, there was no question how important the fan was. To lean on the previous sports analogy, how did the fan drop in draft stock all the way to Mr. Irrelevant? Short answer, media contracts. The size of these media contracts have made the fan less and less valuable to how the NBA operates. In the beginning, the way teams made money was through the ticket sales. At that time in-person fans were the linchpin that held the survival of the league together. Everything about the game was dictated by the fans and the way they consumed the game. The entertainment was designed around the in-person fan and their ability to interact with the game.

As the popularity grew, so did the need to expand the fan base. The most effective way to do this was to add media deals. Its a no brainer, who wouldn't do it. The consequence of this ended up being the decreased value of the in-person fan. The current media deal is worth $25 Billion with the next deal looking to be in the $75 Billion dollar range. In terms of growing the game, all the boxes were checked. Everyone benefits, right? Not quite. With such a huge amount of money coming in from media rights, it only makes sense that a lot of the focus is directed toward the fans who watch the games via media. At this point, if nobody shows up to the games, the league would still be able to function without the ticket sales. Think about that for a minute.

The less necessary something is, the less respected that thing is. Apply that to the in-person fan. Aside from image concerns, the in-person fan is no longer necessary. In turn, the in-person fan becomes Mr. Irrelevant.