Can NBA fix All-Star voting?

Over the last week, sports pages have been filled with comments, complaints and suggestions on the final results of the NBA All-Star balloting. Cleveland’s LeBron James, in his sixth All-Star Game, became the first player to pull in over 2.5 million votes three times. The crowd expected to swell beyond 80,000 fans, anticipated to exceed the live audiences for the Harlem Globetrotters in Berlin, and the mammoth throngs at the expandable Pontiac Silverdome about two decades ago.

But one of the big stories is the inclusion of the unrepentant and recalcitrant Allen Iverson, who placed eighth in the voting with almost 1.3 million votes. Some critics have said that injured stars (like Tracy McGrady) or those who are constantly being dumped by their teams do not deserve to be included. The selection has, however, shown that Iverson resonates strongly with the masses in the US, more so with those who come from the inner cities, and the young people who helped change the establishment by voting an African-American into the White House.

Then again, how does one fix a naturally skewed system, anyway? Would they have to put weight on the votes of players from countries with smaller populations to diminish Yao Ming’s advantage? It’s nobody’s fault that China has one-fourth of the world’s population, and that Yao Ming is from there. France has a relatively small population. Should the votes cast for Tony Parker count for more? What about different states? If you’re from Texas or California, should you need more votes, since you have a bigger population base to begin with?

To be perfectly frank about it, the NBA was approaching the saturation point in its domestic markets. The US also has been exploding with media and competition. On top of that, its ancillary businesses have also experienced geometric growth. Those two factors have added pressure to seek a larger audience. The league also saw a huge potential with the rock star appeal of its first US Olympic team, the Dream Team. The merchandising bonanza caught their attention and started turning them in that direction. It broadened the horizon.

So the NBA has spent the last decade or so milking its foreign markets, particularly China. The NBA China Games which launched in 2004 in Shanghai and Beijing, took two years to plan. The league flew in the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings (featuring Yao Ming on one side and his friend Liu Wei on the other before the latter was cut) and a cast of about 300 events crew members, performers and so on.

That was just the beginning. Since then, one of the league’s major directions was to milk the market internationally. China has been the barometer in the last decade. And the NBA has been able to succeed. Kobe Bryant’s jersey outselling Yao Ming’s is an ironic proof of the level of success. The Rockets were the crowbar that pried the door open for a public marketing invasion.

The lively discussion of the fan voting has brought a new spark to the NBA, which has been hit by the periodic misbehaving of some of its biggest stars, and the attention has been great for the All-Star Weekend, which has been on a ratings roller coaster for over a decade now. It actually shows the dichotomy between what the US fans say they want, and the money the league is looking at outside. Basically, the potential income is a numbers game. Which audience can bring in the biggest numbers will be the focus. If, let’s say India suddenly grows greatly interested in basketball, you can bet the league will be there, muscles flexing, merchandising machinery flexing.

So, now you have the dilemma. On one hand, some fans want players who have played enough and well enough to deserve being voted in. and the league wants to keep fanning the flames of popularity. Though league commissioner David Stern has repeatedly said there are behaviors that are unacceptable, the fact of the matter is, being in the headlines fans the flames of everything else that brings in the profits.

There you have it. Fans will continue to be best by this situation. There is no solution, because nobody wants to solve it. It will continue to fuel the big machine that is the NBA. The debates will persist, but all they will do is bring more attention to the league. It is a happy problem.