Anonymous
Years ago
Soft fouls
I have no doubt this is a directive from the top.
The main goal is for the league to be perceived as a high scoring league.
By calling soft fouls, this drives teams into the bonus early which has 2 effects.
1. Sends teams to the foul line which boosts scoring.
2. Makes teams apprehensive when defending giving an advantage to the scoring team.
This is what the league desires, high scoring, which to them means it is more attractive which they believe means higher attendances and higher ratings.
This is why there are so many fouls called in the game.
There is a school of thought that more offense leads to more excitement and therefore more interest.
IMO, this is a fallacy
Football (soccer) blows this theory out of the water.
Football (soccer) is easily the most popular most watched and generates the most interest on the whole planet. Yet the very nature of the sport is that there is next to no scoring. Yet it has gripped the whole world.
Many sports around the world have altered rules to allow for more scoring.
Cricket - increasing size of bats (which have now been reduced), flat pitches, reducing the boundary sizes.
Baseball - juiced baseballs.
NFL - rules around the quarter back and giving them every ounce of protection.
NBA - no more hand checking