Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin has a plan to fix the NBA's low ratings: start the season two months later.

Instead of starting the NBA season in October, Koonin suggests that the league should start in December in order to maximize ratings and viewership.

“Relevance equals revenue,” Koonin said, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps. “We've got to create the most relevance, and the revenue will fix itself.

A December start date for the NBA would allow pro basketball to no longer have to fight for ratings with the college football regular season as well as the NFL's.

Article Continues Below

With the league starting in mid-December in Koonin's proposal, the season would obviously also end two months later than usual. Rather than in June, the NBA Finals would take place sometime in August. A shift to Summer months would allow the NBA to compete with baseball rather than football.

In order for Koonin's idea to be implemented, a buy-in from the league's teams and owners would be required, as well as broadcasting partners of the league. The NBA's collective bargaining agreement ends 2024 while the league's next media deal negotiation will happen in 2025 — both possible starting points for Koonin's proposal.

Koonin isn't the only one considering a realignment, as the NBA's Vice President of Strategy and Analytics Evan Wasch is open to considering the deal.

“We certainly have no issue with reconsidering the calendar,” Wasch said. “To Steve's point, you have to think about the other stakeholders. They need to get more comfortable with the Finals in August, rather than June, where traditionally the household viewership is a lot lower,” Wasch said.