The NBA All-Star Game and all the attendant weekend festivities come to San Francisco this year with the Golden State Warriors hosting the contest on their home court at Chase Center.

Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson or also known as H.E.R. sits courtside during Game 1 of the NBA All-Star Game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

A 22-year-old Barry scored 38 points in a contest that featured 18 Hall of Famers. "Yeah, it was pretty damn good."

It's amazing how many people will travel great distances just to be in the vicinity of the game. Ed and Cherry Fernandez live in Bermuda and were visiting New York when they flew to San Francisco–with no tickets–in the hopes of watching the game.

It was six hours before game time and people were already filing into the Thrive City plaza outside the Chase Center.

The NBA All-Star Game is an economic success for the sport but the game has declined in popularity, with a format change coming this year in San Francisco.

That number is a 13 percent decrease on the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which drew 5.398 million viewers. And the numbers get even worse than that. It was the second-least-watched game in the event’s history, according to Front Office Sports, barely beating out the 2023 game, which had about 4.6 million people watching.

Victor Wembanyama has already gone up against the U.S. in international events, most notably last year’s Paris Olympics when he led France’s march to the gold medal game against the Americans.

Front Office Sports reported on Wednesday that the 2025 NBA All-Star Game averaged just 4.7 million viewers across all TNT platforms. That is down 13 percent when compared to last year’s NBA All-Star Game.