It's further proof, I think, that NBA fans just don't have that connection with a Kobe or a Lebron that they did with His Airness, even more reason why MJ is in a class all by himself. Even fans that hated MJ had great admiration for/were in 'awe' of him; if you were a sports fan (not just a bball fan, but a fan of any sports) you had that feeling, while watching MJ, that you were witnessing greatness, a once in a lifetime not just player, but personality. MJ was larger than just basketball. The same can never be said of any of the players in the league today. They just don't have that 'aura' that MJ did. In terms of being a sports "icon" and a true global celebrity, MJ is only second all-time to the GOAT: Muhammad Ali.
http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2008/06/02/daily29.html Here it says that the ratings are 10.4. The heated rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers garnered big ratings in game one on Thursday night. The game, in which the Celtics beat the Lakers 98 to 88 on cable station ESPN, fetched a 10.4 national television rating, a 30 percent increase over last year's championship game one match-up between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs, according to SportsBusiness Daily. It was the second highest-rated game one of the NBA finals in six years, finishing behind game one of the 2004 finals that pitted the Lakers against the Detroit Pistons. The game earned a 21.7 rating in the Boston market and a 22.8 rating in Los Angeles.
Unless he/she is concerned about health of the league. I was certainly watching, but I don't think it's a good thing that ratings have been this low.
Baseball World Series ratings are also historically low, way down since the early 90's, but since you're an MLB booster this sentiment is absent from your comments.
I love how a fake fight between the Red Sox and Tampa Bay tried to throw-off the publicity of great NBA Finals game 1. They've got some dude named CoCo Crisp! Who's MLB's next star? Count Chocula?
uhh it's simple... there are more things to watch on tv these days. nfl stays popular cuz it's a weekend sport and its for lazy people.
That makes sense, but how do you explain American Idol and Dancing with the Stars and Survivor? Those shows dominate, and they are Fall shows. Summer is full of 2nd rate crap tv with shows like "America's Got Talent" and other crappers that have 1/10th the budget of Fall shows like Lost and Heroes. The NBA Finals are going against crap tv (not an opinion, but based on what the major networks fund to their summer lineup). But you could be right. The NFL is on Fall Sunday's and their night shows like Monday Night Football were pushed to cable to free ABC up at night.
And yet they're still better than the NBA's...significantly better over the past 5 years. But I'm an NBA fan, Sam. Not a hater. You're the only one hating. I hope NBA ratings are high. I want them to do well.
They're not better by much, and this is something that used to regularly get ratings in the 20's and 30's. I just found it dishonest of you to highlight the decline in the NBA's TV ratings and then go on touting MLB's successes when baseball has alos faced a precipitous decline. Not sure why this thread has anything to even do with baseball in the first place.
1. Ask Kim about that. I was responding to his/her posts comparing it to other sports...including baseball. 2. I didn't tout baseball's ratings successes...their successes in revenues are worth touting. And I'm glad for it. That doesn't mean I'm rooting against the NBA. 3. Stop taking me, you and this so seriously, colonel.
I was stating that everything seems to be a fringe sport in this country compared to football. I grew up in the 80's through now, so my opinion is definitely biased as what is it, we are all slaves to our biases. I just think sport popularity and success has a lot of factors, but fan obsession is probably #1. And to me, soccer fits that MO all over the world, and NFL football fits that MO more than any other sport in the USA. The obsession over the draft, training camp, the limited games, the lack of Sunday afternoon competition...there's a lot of factors that go into why it's that way, but to me it's pretty clear that football is king in this country. Every game is like a big event that people spend a lot of time and money on (at the games and also gathering with friends). I've gone off on a tangent. Anyhow my original point I think was that if you watch old NBA games on ESPN Classic and NBAtv, you would find a true love and joy amongst players and fans and I really think that made a big difference in viewership. People loved watching basketball and loved watching the games. Nowadays, there's too much made up drama and hollywoodization of the game. Flops, celebrities, fake hate, real hate, gossip, fronting like you're gonna fight but everybody knows there hasn't been a real fight in years...it's all off putting in a way...well, it doesn't necessarily have to be off-putting as it just doesn't help making it a true joy to watch. If you bring the real joy back into the games and into the fans, more people will watch. Just my opinion.
The once a week nature of the NFL and College Football makes it a lot easier to digest for families etc. Significant others and children have an easier time giving daddy (or mommy) a 3-6 hour block on a sunday to catch some football, than 6 nights a week for baseball or 4-5 for basketball. The elephant in the room no one wants to talk about is that football is also the most fun to gamble on. With fantasy football exploding thats only going to continue to grow. Baseball was my first love, and I had seen a couple dozen Astros games before I saw the Rockets or Oilers. But its difficult for an individual mid season game (one of 162 or 81) to have the kind of "event" status of something that is one of 16.
A3 -- those are overnights. The real ratings situation is much worse. This is bad, bad news for the NBA. I know they expected much higher ratings. MUCH higher. It's an improvement over last year, yes, but the league (and me, frankly) was expecting a much steeper increase.
