The NBA released schedules for all 30 teams Monday at 12 p.m. PT and there was one big change for the Warriors: A bunch of national TV games have earlier tip-off times than before.
In order to get more fans on the East Coast watching Western Conference teams, the number of nationally televised games for the upcoming season with start times of 7:30 p.m. PT has decreased from 56 to 33. The Warriors are one of the main factors for the change.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has expressed his hope for earlier West Coast games for months now. Silver believes the league wasn't properly serving their fans with stars like Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, LeBron James and more starting so many games at 10:30 p.m. ET.
"If your West Coast games start at 10:30 at night in the East, you're invariably going to lose a lot of viewers around 11, 11:30. I mean, you can just chart it," Silver said in May while appearing on NBC's TODAY.
"You see how many television households turn off around 11:15, 11:30 at night, just because people have to get up for work in the morning."
The Warriors played 18 nationally televised games at 7:30 p.m. PT last season. That number will be reduced to 11 for the 2019-20 season. While this could be more convenient for those on the East Coast, there are bound to be some issues for Warriors fans in the Bay Area.
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"I mean, it would obviously be less convenient to those fans on the West Coast if we played even earlier. I mean, just think about people getting to those arenas after work if you start a game at 6 p.m. local time in the West," Silver said in his May interview.
"It's not the most convenient thing. It's not as convenient for a television watcher on the West Coast, either."
[RELATED: 10 must-see Warriors games in fascinating 2019-20 season]
It appears this will affect games on the road more than at home. The Warriors have two home games in January on national TV that will start at 7 p.m., instead of a half hour later. There will also be a handful of nationally televised weekend home games at 5:30 p.m. PT.
While this could be a win for the NBA, make sure you set your DVRs and do what you can to beat the San Francisco traffic on these dates.
