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.

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.

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

The first NBA All-Star Game was played in 1951 at Boston Gardens and it only happened because Celtics owner Walter Brown agreed to cover any losses the game might incur. It drew 10,000 people and was considered an instant success.

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.

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)

With the NBA All-Star game and the Chinese New Year Parade happening in San Francisco this coming weekend, public transit and roadways will be affected by closures, according to city officials.

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.