NBA: Why aren't you watching?

Some experts see a disconnect between the corporate and well-heeled fans filling the prime seats at NBA arenas and those who watch games on TV, and buy the jerseys, sneakers, and video games.

NBA executives tout the more than 1 million tickets available for $10 or less at arenas across the country this past season. With record average attendance of 17,252 per game, league executives say the current formula is a resounding hit.

At the same time, though, the average ticket price is a hefty $45.28, according to industry newsletter Team Marketing Report, lower than the NFL ($54.75) but more than double the rate for Major League Baseball ($21.17). Those prices don't include so-called premium tickets - the best seats in the house - which in the NBA sell for $153.80, on average, per game.

An NBA player earns an average of $5 million per season, the highest in professional team sports.

"There is a lack of connection between players and fans because the players make so much money now," says Peter Roby, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. "Players in the 1960s and 1970s used to live in the same neighborhoods as the fans. Now there is a wedge between fans and players, so there is no empathy. They live separate lives."

Publicly, Commissioner Stern says life has never been better for the league. For the players, with their guaranteed multimillion-dollar contracts, and the owners, with their soaring franchise values ($265 million, double the average of a decade ago), that is undoubtedly true.

"Our television viewing [internationally] and our relationship with our fans has never been better," Stern says. "Our sponsorship list is expanding with respect to major international consumer-product companies who want to reach their audiences through the NBA."

Even as the commissioner recites a litany of business statistics and anecdotes, he scrambles to repair pro basketball's tarnished image. Most recently, the NBA enlisted Matthew Dowd, a strategist on President Bush's campaign last fall, to help improve the league's reputation and cultivate a larger audience. Mr. Dowd declines comment on his work with the NBA.

As Mr. Carter notes, the NBA, more than any other league, carries the currency of popular culture, a double-edged sword since many of its young fans love seeing Will Smith offer a hip-hop number before tipoff. For just as many fans, the relentless blend of entertainment and sport can be off-putting.

"I think it's a very cool product," says Al Michaels, the ABC broadcaster calling the finals. "I think the marketing is very, very good." At the same time, he cautions, the players must be aware of their income source: "You need to stay connected to the fans."

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