5 Reasons Why NBA Stars Are More Famous Than NFL Stars

in #sports7 years ago

5 Reasons Why NBA Stars Are More Famous Than NFL Stars

With the NFL regular season finally underway, the debate of the more dominant sports league will begin to flare up once again. There is little evidence to show that NFL stars are more powerful and famous than NBA stars, but the question at hand is why are NBA stars so much more famous than their NFL counterparts? Here are my five reasons why this is true:

1. Number of Players

Let's look at the numbers first. In the NFL there are 53 players on a team's roster. There are 32 teams, which means that there are a total of 1,696 players on NFL rosters at any one time (for simplicity I am leaving off injured reserve players and practice squads). On the other hand, the NBA has 30 teams of 15 players each (once again not taking into account developmental players and injuries) for a total of 450 players. These numbers aren't perfect, but they work for simplicities sake.

Now let's think about it this way. There are few people in the world that can remember 450 names and far fewer who can name 1,696 names. Therefore, it makes sense that the total star power for the NBA is going to be more concentrated than that of the NFL as there are fewer NBA players to share the spotlight.

Many diehard NBA fans can name at least the top 10-12 players on their favorite team and half of these are not even starters, but it is much less likely that a fan will be able to name even all of the starters for their favorite team. I will be honest and say that I can't even name the offensive linemen for my favorite NFL team.

It's the sheer number of players that makes it difficult to keep track of all of the players on an NFL team. Sure nearly every fan can name their team's quarterback and maybe a star wide receiver or running back, but far fewer can name defensive linemen, linebackers, or safeties.

The fact that fewer NBA players exist in total helps point to why NBA players outshine NFL players by a wide margin.

2. Length of Careers

Again, let's look at the numbers. The average NBA player's career is 4.8 years. The average NFL career? 2.66 years. That's a difference of over two full seasons. To add to those numbers, the fact that most players don't really find their own in the league until a year or two in shows that it is increasingly more difficult for a player to "make it" in the NFL than it is in the NBA.

Think about the most famous current NFL player Tom Brady. Brady has played 16 seasons in the NFL and is now at the ripe age of 40, which is nearly unheard of for NFL players. On the other hand, we have LeBron James who will be entering his 15th season. LeBron is only 32 years of age. Even if LeBron only plays a few more seasons, he will undoubtedly surpass the number of seasons Tom Brady has played.

But let's also look at non-stars to illustrate the huge difference between NBA and NFL players. LaDainian Tomlinson was one of the greatest running backs in the modern NFL. He rushed for a league-record 26 touchdowns in 2006 with the San Diego Chargers. One of the greatest to ever play and someone who by NFL standards was considered quite durable. He played 11 seasons before retiring.

Here are a few guys who are entering their 12th year in the NBA: JJ Redick, Rudy Gay, Rajon Rondo, Kyle Lowry, Paul Millsap. Nobody could claim that these guys are better basketball players than Tomlinson was a football player, yet all of them still look to have multiple years ahead of them.

Players simply play longer in the NBA and the longer someone is around, the more their name can and will pop up. Call it psychological bias or whatever you want, but it's a fact that NBA players have longer careers than NFL players.

3. NBA Players Don't Wear Helmets and Pads

This one is simple. It's much easier to recognize someone when you can see more of them when they are playing. NFL players wear pads and a helmet which obscures our ability to tell them apart while on the field. Without positions and numbers on jerseys, it would be nearly impossible to pick NFL players out of a lineup. Take the numbers off an NBA team's jersey and many fans would still be able to pick out players while watching a game. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be far easier than trying to do the same with an NFL team.


Just look at that difference in skin coverage!

4. The NBA is a More Global League

The top 20 NBA players are known around the world. Many of them are mega-stars even in countries that can barely field a basketball team. Ask a layman in Botswana if he can name five NFL players and you'll get maybe one name out of them. Ask that same person to name a few NBA players and they can probably rattle off a few. LeBron, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry.

Hell let's look at the 20th most famous NBA player. Who is it? I'm not 100% sure, but let's go with Kevin Love. More people know who Kevin Love is than the 20th most famous NFL player. Who would that be? Maybe AJ Green and that's probably being generous. How many kids in Europe know who AJ Green is? The Answer: Zero (Maybe one kid who's really into fantasy football).

According to ESPN's World Fame 100 rankings (link here: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/worldfame100/espn-world-fame-100-top-ranking-athletes), the NFL had eight players that ranked in the top 100 most famous athletes. The NBA had thirteen. (In comparison, soccer had 38 showing it truly is the world's most global sport).

When the stars of your league are known not only in the country they play in, but throughout the world, it's easy to see why NBA players have a stranglehold on fandom as compared to the NFL.

5. In the NBA the Players are the Stars

There are few logical arguments that provide enough evidence to sway me to the side that NFL players are a bigger focus of the league than the NBA. NBA players have so much power when it comes to the narratives that they can control. Let's take LeBron James for example. Has an NFL player ever had their own 30-minute special on ESPN about where they are going to sign as a free-agent? No, never. The NFL would probably fine and suspend the player for doing so.

In the NFL, the brand is king. The owners are 100% in charge and the true stars of the league are the franchises themselves. The team is much bigger than each individual player. To contrast that, in the NBA, the players are the stars. Nobody really cared about the Cleveland Cavaliers until LeBron James. There were a few storied franchises in the Lakers, Celtics, and Knicks, but beyond that, the players were the ones commanding the attention.

Nobody knew who the New Orleans Pelicans were prior to 2012, but now you can walk through the streets of China and see an Anthony Davis jersey. This probably goes back to the roster size argument as well in that there are fewer players to fight for the spotlight in the NBA, but it's impossible in my eyes to claim that the NFL has bigger stars than the NBA.

Conclusion

With all that said, everything just felt right this past Thursday when the Kansas City Chiefs played the New England Patriots to kickoff the NFL season. Here in the United States, Sunday's will always be reserved for two things; Church and Football.

As a massive fan of both the NBA and NFL, I find it fascinating that the NBA has been able to far surpass the NFL in terms of popularity globally. The star power in the NBA is at an all-time high and I'm not dismissing the fact that NFL players are extremely popular, they just aren't even in the same stratosphere as NBA players. I love both leagues dearly and will always be a diehard fan of both, but I truly believe that the ship has sailed for the NFL and that globally the NBA is here to stay.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Tell me down in the comments if you agree and why. I look forward to writing more NBA and NFL centric articles so if you are interested, please follow @brandonp to get all of my posts directly to your feed!

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You really have to be a sports fan to write such a good blog.Amazing...

good reflection, I am from Spain and I follow all the sports but in Europe it is followed more Nba.

Do you like football (soccer)?

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