Truly, the four major sports are completely different in the United States. The NBA has vast international appeal on a level that most U.S.-based sports don’t enjoy. The NFL is king in the United States and it dominates everything, even culture. Baseball is America’s grand old man and is regionally more popular than the NFL in areas (see below*). The NHL has massive popularity in parts of the country but has less broad appeal than the other major sports.
The NFL’s dominance over the American psyche – in particular its hold over the city of Denver – has created a strange dynamic. Sure, the NFL is king in other cities, but since 1977 the Broncos utter and complete control over the thoughts and minds of the Mile High City has made appreciation of other sports a strange push/pull. Simply put: A 16-week, “every team is on the same plane” dynamic has created an expectation that other sports should be exactly the same.
Imagine if you will someone in suburban Denver angrily shouting during game number nine of an 82-game NBA season. “Why aren’t you like football?! Be more like football!!”
(I kid! I kid!… Mostly.)
That may be a bit of a simplistic take, but there’s a big element of truth in the hyperbole. Has the NFL’s dominance of Denver’s psyche created a completely unreasonable and inapplicable standard? Compete for a title every year or you will be either ignored or derided. Meanwhile the Broncos will be gifted with sellouts when they can’t figure out who their quarterback is. Sure, they were just blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles and their season savior at quarterback (Brock Osweiler) looked just as lost as their previous quarterback (Trevor Siemian). Still, there will be 76,000 people in Sports Authority Field when the Broncos take on the New England Patriots on Sunday night.
*There are those who point to the Colorado Rockies’ strong attendance, despite only making the playoffs four times in 25 seasons. One HUGE advantage the Rockies have is they largely don’t have to compete against the Broncos until the end of their regular season. The Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche compete directly against the Broncos and are affected more directly by the juggernaut that is the Broncos and the NFL in Denver.
It’s the circle of life. I can hear you now “Blah, blah Super Bowls. Blah blah championships. Blah Blah desire to win.” I’ve heard it all.
The Denver Nuggets have been on a rebuilding track for the last few seasons. Fans, angry over of the firing of George Karl and the departure of General Manager Masai Ujiri in the offseason of 2013 refused to come back. The Nuggets have had to, very slowly, rebuild their team and their damaged reputation with the city of Denver. The blowback to the chaos of 2013 is understandable and was well-deserved among people who actually paid attention to the Nuggets in Denver. There was an erosion of fan base that began when Carmelo Anthony forced his way out of Denver in 2011 and the coup de gras was the firing of Karl after a 57-win season.
The most dramatic illustration of how the NFL has hindered perception of the NBA is during the Nuggets’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. A major columnist used his Twitter platform to take shots at the Nuggets and even going so far to extrapolate the team missing the playoffs. This was game 10 in an 82-game season. The Nuggets are 5-5. It was hard to fathom considering this columnist’s long history in the city and presumably, seeing successful seasons from the Nuggets. You know that the season is a long one. Right?
There is where the “NFL-ized” thought comes in. It’s harder for columnists and observers who spend a majority of their time watching the NFL to transition away from the one game a week, one loss can kill you mentality. An 82-game season is a much different animal and you can’t go into a season with the “one loss can kill you” mentality in the NBA — at least until the end of the year. So, when the Broncos look like they will be bad, an observer naturally comes over to the NBA and is jarred by the way games are perceived.
If this is your thinking, then it will be hard for you to transition to the NBA, NHL or MLB. Those three sports function on a completely different plane than the NFL and, in Denver particularly, it’s hard for people to bridge the gap — so they don’t try. This leads to the perception of apathy. In reality, the Broncos domination of media, thought and culture in Denver hurts the other sports that have to compete against them.
What happens, though, when the Broncos go on a downhill slide? (Such as this season.) What can the Nuggets do to attract the fans who have been disaffected by the Broncos being terrible? The only solution is to win at home as much as possible. It’s easier said than done in a stacked Western Conference with so many star players, but the reality is that it’s the only way the Nuggets can get people to come back to Pepsi Center. Casual fans respond to a winning situation in general, but specifically in a city where people are so consumed by the NFL. They need something that will point them to success.
It’s not that people can’t understand other sports. It’s kind of like a captive audience. If you have a famous columnist taking an NFL-style approach to NBA commentary in game number 10, you understand the hill you have to climb. Because the fabric and culture of the NFL and the Broncos is so woven into everything in the city, you are constantly fighting a perception that all is lost after one loss.
The hope is that the Nuggets can continue their upward trajectory and encourage people to come aboard with the hopes that they understand it’s a long season. The “other sports” versus Denver will continue and the perception will be hard to change without wins. That’s on the Nuggets, and there’s no easy ride if your colors aren’t orange and blue in the Mile High City.
