<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NEW YORK -- NBA regular-season attendance averaged 17,314 this year, the highest in league history. Total attendance of nearly 21.3 million topped the previous mark of more than 20.5 million set during the 1995-96 season, the league said Thursday. Excluding the addition of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, NBA games still drew more than 432,500 fans this season than last season. This year's average attendance mark exceeded the 1995-96 record of 17,252 and last season's average of 17,050.</div> Source
credit You know who deserves the credit for this right? LBJ!! The cavs road attendance average this year was tremendous and it wasnt because of Ira Newble. No player has gotten that kind of draws everywhere since MJ.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">No player has gotten that kind of draws everywhere since MJ.</div> with the exception of the Lakers the past 4 years.. (excluding this season)
James made a big difference. There were a few 'Payback games' this year that contributed big too. Miami vs. LA, Toronto vs. New Jersey, Detroit vs. Indiana, etc. Nice to see the NBA more popular than ever before.
Much of the country, even the world, has heard the name LeBron James, and they all want to see what hes got. I knew James would put alot of butts in the seats, but not as much as they were now... Bobcats also said it right about the many payback games...those are always a plus for attendence. Man I just imagine the StaplesCenter when Shaq went back to LA for the first time...
This is great for the NBA. This is to prove all the naysayers wrong about the league surviving without Jordan, Magic, Bird etc. Like <font color="Red">MJ</font> said when he retired, <font color="Red">"the game is in good hands"</font> Lebron has been great for attendance, but also the popularity of the game of basketball is at an all time high. This is also attributed to the growing success of basketball throughout the world with stars like Yao Ming, Nowitski, Carlos Arroyo, Ginobili among others. As was proven in the Olympics, basketball is not just an American sport anymore. I'm guessing attendance numbers will continue to rise through the years and will eventually lead to bigger stadiums & arenas. Imagine a stadium-like crowd of 70,000 people cheering for a basketball game!
This is awesome that the attendance is way up there, after MJ left alot of people weren't sure whether the attendance could be at his level again. The only player now that gets the MJ audience is The King himself Lebron James, the popularist player in the NBA now!
