The National Basketball Association is one of America’s biggest sports organizations. It hosts one of the most popular basketball tournaments in the world (if not the most popular), with the NBA Finals being one of the most watched events in the sport. The association has garnered hardcore fans, casual fans, and bettors from all around the world. Many will only stick to the finals, however, quite a few follow the entire season and even pre-season, almost religiously. It is for those fans, that the NBA is likely going to make the Play-In Preliminary tournament a permanent occurrence.
What is the Play-In Tournament?
The NBA Play-In Tournament is a preliminary post-season tournament, the purpose of which is to determine the final two playoff seeds in both the Eastern and Western conferences. The tournament is played immediately after play offs, and garners a huge crowd of, not just fans, but bettors. If we were to look at online bookmakers listed on topbettingapps.co.uk, we could see that this tournament has grown quite a bit in popularity in the past couple of years since its introduction, and enjoys heavy play when it comes to betting. The National Basketball Association already hosts some of the most popular events in the world of sports wagering, so it isn’t a huge shock to learn that the Play-In Tournament is popular among users of online sportsbooks.
The play-in tournament was first approved of in 2020, with the purpose of deciding the final two seeds of the Eastern and Western conferences. Though the format has changed a bit since then, the goal remains the same. So, just why is the play-in tournament such a big deal?
The Importance of the Play-In Tournament
As we said before, the goal of the play-in tournament is to decide the final two playoff seeds in the Western and Eastern Conferences. The way it works is, teams who have finished in the 7, 8, 9, and 10 spots in each of the two conferences, then compete among each other, in order to decide the 7th and 8th seed within the conferences. And though this play-in is a rather new addition to the NBA, it has already garnered huge popularity and notoriety among fans, analysts and bettors.
Taking a look at its brief history, we will notice that even the reigning Champs played in play-in last year. So, you can see that the play-in is not just something to disregard and forget all about. And it is very likely for that reason, that the National Basketball Association is thinking about making the Play-In Tournament a permanent occurrence.
Rumors of its Permanence
It was a week-or-so ago, around July 10 that rumors of the play-in tournament’s permanence first started circulating. Some of these rumors were even told to us by reliable sources. Supposedly, the NBA board of governors were in talks to vote on the future of play-in, and whether it should remain a permanent mark of the National Basketball Association.
The Play-In Tournament is a rather popular addition to the NBA, so to make it a permanent fixture would make perfect sense. It gets excellent views and ratings, the betting industry has been shown to stand behind it, and casual fans flock to the games as well. So, what reason could there be for the board of governors to decide against keeping the fixture.
As of July 12, the NBA board of governors has voted, and their final decision is that the NBA Play-In Tournament will, indeed, become a permanent fixture of the NBA game calendar. Though a few rules have been changed, the tournament will remain in its current form. Fans have been nothing but excited for this news. On top of that, the board discussed adding an additional in-game tournament. However, no news has come as to their decision surrounding this topic.
Conclusion
The play-in tournament might be rather new, but already it has become one of the most popular events in the NBA fixture. For this reason, a vote has determined that it will remain a permanent tournament in the NBA roster. Fans and bettors alike are celebrating the board of governors’ decision and looking forward to a great addition to the National Basketball Association.
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