The Bad
The Bulls may be sustaining that league-leading attendance in technical terms, but the ambiance I mentioned earlier suggests otherwise. After all, those official attendance records account for tickets purchased, not seats filled. Take a look at this picture of the United Center from the Bulls game against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
Regarding what @NickFriedell mentioned on the sparse turnout… pic.twitter.com/wKozwI9oxt
— Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) February 15, 2017
As you can see, there are empty seats galore. And that picture is clearly taken with the game underway, as Taj Gibson is inbounding the ball after the Raptors scored. Bulls fans used to be one of the few groups in the NBA to fill the arena well before tipoff. One of the best parts about going to the Madhouse is experiencing arguably the best pregame introduction sequence in professional sports. Benny and the Bulls flag are spotlighted at center court. “Sirius” by Alan Parsons Project (more commonly know as the “Bulls Theme Song”) crescendos as goosebumps take over your body and vivid memories of the dynasty come flooding back.
“…Aaaaaaand now! The starting lineup for your Chicago Bulls!”
…My heart literally started beating faster as I typed those words while “Sirius” played in my headphones. I literally got goosebumps. It’s inexplicable, but every diehard Bulls fan feels it. Maybe it’s our sense memory taking us back to a glorified time whose heroes and triumphs don’t feel that far gone. But with the increasingly silent crowds and no shows, has the novelty of reliving those glory days finally started to wear off?
Where’s The Remote?
It certainly appears that fans aren’t tuning in for “Sirius” – or the actual games that follow -in their homes this season. Earlier this week, Danny Ecker of Chicago Business released a report on the Bulls’ TV ratings in year two of the Fred Hoiberg Experiment. In short, they’re bad. Here’s an excerpt from Ecker’s report:
Through 30 broadcasts on CSN Chicago, the middling Bulls have posted an average TV rating of 2.12, or about 74,000 Chicago-area households per game. That’s down 28 percent compared with the final season average and puts the team on pace to endure its lowest TV viewership average in nearly a decade on the network.
The dip also comes a year after the Bulls suffered a precipitous 36 percent ratings slide to their lowest average since the 2009-10 season. If viewership doesn’t turn around this season, the team’s average rating could fall below 2.0 for the first time since 2007-08, the year before the team drafted Derrick Rose.
If you’re the kind of person who absorbs information better through graphs, Ecker has you covered. Here are the Bulls’ ratings on CSN since the 2007-08 season:
That 2.95 average rating last season has dipped to 2.12 this season. The ratings are in a steady free fall since fans tuned in regularly during the ’14-15 season that saw a resurgent Rose and the Bulls push LeBron James and the Cavaliers to six games in the conference semifinals. Now that seems like more of a distant memory than Jordan’s final shot over Bryon Russell in Salt Lake City.
So, what have we established? Chicago is still near the top of the league in merchandise sales, but people are starting to tune out of the games. Tickets are still selling out, but the butts aren’t filling the seats.
Speaking of filling the seats, there’s a large protest brewing that aims to infiltrate the United Center with angry fans wearing “Fire GarPax” t-shirts. Mark your calendars for the Bulls’ nationally televised home game against the Clippers on March 4th. The question is, will Reinsdorf even notice? If he notices, will he care?
I posed that question to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune on Monday’s episode of The 312 Podcast. His answer probably isn’t what Bulls fans want to hear…
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