NBA Postpones Playoff Games As Milwaukee Bucks Boycott Following Kenosha Police Shooting

The National Basketball Association has made the decision to postpone three NBA Playoff games that were scheduled to take place on Wednesday night.

What Happened: The postponement came after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for their scheduled Game 5 matchup versus the Orlando Magic. The boycott came in response to the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The two later Game 5s were also rumored to see player protests.

The NBA, owners and front offices didn't see this wave of player boycotts coming today. Hours ago, they all expected to be playing these games tonight. This is a pivot point for the NBA and professional sports in North America.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 26, 2020

What Investors Should Know: The three games have been postponed with details of makeup dates to come. Disney DIS and AT&T T will be paying close attention to the announcement as their ESPN and TNT channels air the majority of the games.

NBA Playoffs television ratings were down 20% during the first week with an average viewership of 1.875 million on ESPN and TNT. This follows the trend as television ratings are down 19% industry-wide. The playoffs last year brought in $932 million in ad revenue.

Disney stated earlier it was seeing advertising strength returning for NBA, with 25 new advertisers signed on for the Playoffs.

DraftKings DKNG has already stated they will refund all single-game bets made on the three postponed games.

The NBA lost $1 billion in revenue from the short season and could lose $1 billion more if the playoffs end early. The networks that air the games will also want to see games made up so they can get their advertising revenue.

It’s simple: no, @nba players won’t get paid but if more teams refuse to play the season then owners won’t get paid by networks..then networks don’t get paid by advertisers. Owners w/political clout get into the act to preserve investments. Think real change might occur then?

— Len Elmore (@LenElmore) August 26, 2020