Hate of Mondays, Patterns in All-Time NBA Schedule

When I collect a lot of data for one topic spin-off ideas are almost inevitable because by that time the hardest part is already finished and the only thing left is [additional and unrelated] cherry at the top ;-)
Last post about Journey through Miles of NBA Travel History wasn’t the exception. To measure distance I needed a schedule… and with that information in place why not analyze NBA’s schedule itself?

Here are some basic total numbers and facts about it from 1951-52 to 2010-11:

Weekday	Total Games		Season’s Start		Day	Season	Season’s End		Day
Monday	6432		Wed	Oct	27	2011	Wed	Apr	13
Tuesday	16690		Wed	Oct	28	2010	Wed	Apr	14
Wednesday	16966		Wed	Oct	29	2009	Wed	Apr	15
Thursday	9108		Fri	Nov	2	2008	Wed	Apr	16
Friday	18606		Wed	Nov	1	2007	Wed	Apr	18
Saturday	16890		Wed	Nov	2	2006	Wed	Apr	19
Sunday	12980		Wed	Nov	3	2005	Wed	Apr	20
			Wed	Oct	29	2004	Wed	Apr	14
Month	Total Games		Wed	Oct	30	2003	Wed	Apr	16
October	3148		Tue	Oct	30	2002	Tue	Apr	16
November	16744		Tue	Oct	31	2001	Wed	Apr	18
December	17274		Tue	Nov	2	2000	Wed	Apr	19
January	17938		Fri	Feb	5	1999	Wed	May	5
February	16184		Fri	Oct	31	1998	Sat	Apr	18
March	17654		Fri	Nov	1	1997	Sun	Apr	20
April	8642		Fri	Nov	3	1996	Sun	Apr	21
May	88		Fri	Nov	4	1995	Sun	Apr	23
			Fri	Nov	5	1994	Sun	Apr	24
Month	Adj per 30		Fri	Nov	6	1993	Sun	Apr	25
October	3046		Sat	Nov	2	1992	Sat	Apr	18
November	16744		Fri	Nov	2	1991	Sun	Apr	21
December	16717		Fri	Nov	3	1990	Sun	Apr	22
January	17359		Fri	Nov	4	1989	Sun	Apr	23
February	17187		Fri	Nov	6	1988	Sat	Apr	23
March	17085		Sat	Nov	1	1987	Sun	Apr	19
April	8642		Fri	Oct	25	1986	Sun	Apr	13
May	85		Fri	Oct	26	1985	Sat	Apr	13
			Fri	Oct	28	1984	Sat	Apr	14
Day of Month	Total Games		Fri	Oct	29	1983	Sun	Apr	17
1	2948		Sat	Oct	31	1982	Sun	Apr	18
2	3490		Sat	Oct	11	1981	Sun	Mar	29
3	3270		Fri	Oct	12	1980	Sun	Mar	30
4	3378		Fri	Oct	13	1979	Sun	Apr	8
5	3448		Sat	Oct	22	1978	Sun	Apr	9
6	3414		Thu	Oct	21	1977	Sun	Apr	10
7	3274		Thu	Oct	23	1976	Sun	Apr	11
8	3376		Fri	Oct	18	1975	Sun	Apr	6
9	3254		Tue	Oct	9	1974	Tue	Mar	26
10	3316		Tue	Oct	10	1973	Wed	Mar	28
11	3354		Tue	Oct	12	1972	Sun	Mar	26
12	3268		Sat	Oct	17	1971	Sun	Mar	21
13	3294		Wed	Oct	15	1970	Sun	Mar	22
14	3402		Wed	Oct	16	1969	Sat	Mar	22
15	3356		Wed	Oct	18	1968	Sat	Mar	16
16	3292		Sat	Oct	15	1967	Sat	Mar	18
17	3392		Sat	Oct	16	1966	Tue	Mar	22
18	3208		Sat	Oct	17	1965	Sun	Mar	21
19	3242		Wed	Oct	16	1964	Wed	Mar	18
20	3112		Sat	Oct	20	1963	Sun	Mar	17
21	3216		Sat	Oct	21	1962	Wed	Mar	14
22	3096		Sat	Oct	22	1961	Sun	Mar	12
23	3176		Sat	Oct	17	1960	Wed	Mar	9
24	2560		Sat	Oct	25	1959	Wed	Mar	11
25	2854		Tue	Oct	22	1958	Wed	Mar	12
26	3438		Sat	Oct	27	1957	Wed	Mar	13
27	3054		Sat	Nov	5	1956	Wed	Mar	14
28	3074		Sat	Oct	30	1955	Sun	Mar	13
29	2764		Sat	Oct	31	1954	Sun	Mar	14
30	2728		Sat	Nov	1	1953	Tue	Mar	17
31	1624		Thu	Nov	1	1952	Sun	Mar	16

We can easily observe some patterns here, for example:

1) NBA Truly Hates Mondays.

Not only on Mondays there was by far the least amount of games played but also NBA season usually starts just after this day.
Obviously those facts are related but even if we adjust start of every season, Mondays still would be the least favorite day for the NBA. Was Monday the worst day to attract customers?

2) NBA isn’t a fan of Sundays and Thursdays either.

Sundays were, are and probably always will be reserved for football so that’s understandable to limit games but what’s wrong with Thursdays? Does NBA save some games for Fridays? Speaking of which…

3) The most games in NBA history were played on Friday.

OK, that’s actually not a surprise so let’s move on… to the possible explanation for three aforementioned points. Here’s a graph with historical Percentage of NBA Games Played on each Weekday:

OK, so more accurate would be to say “NBA Hated Mondays” ;-)
Also Thursdays really took a hit 8 years ago. Was it a move to accommodate some wishes from TV?
Speaking of which…

4) The most busy month was January followed by February and March.

Is this another influence of NFL? NBA moved into higher gear around the time when football was slowing down [at least in terms of number of games played]… this can’t be coincidence, can it?

5) Favorite day to start a season changed through time.

In the first two decades it was Saturday, in the next three Friday and in recent ones it has been Wednesday.
That’s probably related to number of games played so NBA could finish it’s schedule at desired date.

Finally, if you want to be really hardcore… here’s a Breakdown of Percentage of NBA Games Played on each Day for each City/Team where highlights are:
– It’s true that Utah tries to avoid games on Sundays.
It’s also a reason why they play a lot games on Mondays.
– perennial winners like Lakers and Celtics played often on Sundays.