http://www.nba.com//news/finalsratings_080606.html NEW YORK, June 6 (AP) -- The Lakers-Celtics matchup gave the NBA finals' television ratings a big boost. Game 1 on Thursday averaged an 8.7 rating on ABC, the network said Friday. That's up 38 percent from the 6.3 during last year's Cavaliers-Spurs series. It's the highest Game 1 rating since Lakers-Pistons in 2004 drew a 9.8. The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions.
Last year's finals sucked. Even with Lebron. Well, actually I don't know since I didn't watch it. Although the other years weren't so bad. 2005 was a really close Final. The 2006 Finals were filled with stars and had a couple of close games. People are just hyped about this Final b/c it's Lakers/Celtics. The quality of the games will be the same pretty much.
Your last sentence proved you didn't watch last yeat's Finals. It was awful and ugly. The quality of last night wasn't exactly historic, but it was much better than last year's games.
last year's finals was horrible. everyone knew cleveland had no chance. i dont think the ratings are going to pick back up too much. a lot of people are just tired of the nba and the silly rules.
well its big news in this part of the world. Well at least in my group of bball mates. The whole group of us, skip class to watch the game.
I should have said the same as the other years, but not last year's. I agree that the Spurs/Cavs Finals felt like a preseason game.
Honestly, there is little that gets more hype than Lakers/Celtics in the NBA. I'm really surprised that Game 1 (with all the pre-game pageantry celebrating the history of this rivalry) didn't draw more viewers. I really thought they'd be in double digits again. I read an article last year that said if NBA Finals ratings continue to trend this way, they'll find themselves off the major networks.
I think the flopping and other multitude of issues turns off casual fans. But the main problem is fanaticism and passion...it's just not there the way it is for football. And if you watch old games on ESPN Classic or NBAtv, you can tell the fans truly are enjoying the game and being into it. They're passionate and supportive...like a college bball feel to it. The NBA is successful and profitable, but I'm not surprised at all at the modest ratings considering the teams. It's not going to be on cable though. Even if the NBA becomes a fringe sport like the NHL, well, the NHL is still on network tv. Actually, isn't every sport in this country a fringe sport if it isn't football? Baseball attendance is good, but those tickets are really cheap and easy to get...tv wise, everything fails compared to how the NFL does.
1. NBC's deal with the NHL is very favorable. But I don't think it's a lock that the Stanley Cup Finals remain on network tv. In fact, they haven't always been. NBC bought NHL low. 2. Ratings for World Series are considerably better than NBA Finals over the course of the past 5 years or so. From the 2003 World Series on, MLB saw only one of those games slip below double-digits in ratings. In that same 5 year period, the NBA has averaged below double-digits in every year but one. Last year's 6.2 was the worst ever...but not ton worse than 2003 when it averaged 6.5. 3. MLB's revenues now match NFL revenues. There is no question Super Bowl ratings trump all...but I think a lot of that is the timing (on a weekend evening) and the urgency of the one-time event (win or lose with no margin for error). There are a grand total of 8 times a year (not including preseason or postseason) that your team plays at home. That puts a premium on things, to be sure.
I'm not going to argue if the NFL is a better product. But I think you're right when it has to do with the limitedness of it. I creates this feeling that each game is so big and all the fans are into it. It's great that the MLB is doing well, but matching revenues must be accompanied by the fact that it's over a much longer time period. And the tickets are cheaper. A regular season football game, and the NFL playoffs get higher ratings than baseball regular season games and playoffs. Again, a lot having to do with limited games and timing, but whatever the reason, there's definitely a fan rabidness in the NFL that's on a level of it's own. I've seen this pure love of the game on the faces of basketball fans too. Mostly it's on tape of the 80's. Sacramento and Golden State are exceptions...there is regional true love...but overall, there's a major lacking in that area compared to the past or compared to the NFL. Not sure how or if that will change, but as long as it doesn't then the NBA ratings will never be great.
so as one-sided as the finals were last year, and as much as everybody knew it would be, and as much as espn has been hammering us with the same clips of lakers/celtics series of decades gone by, and as much hype seen for an nba finals for the past 60 years, they could only squeeze out a 38% increase? i was expecting at least a 100% increase, maybe 200.
I barely watched the playoffs since the first round. I watched the Rockets Jazz games, and other first round games, but when we got bounced, it was hard to watch the conference semis and conference finals.
i think the NBA needs to cut back on the games in the playoffs. seriously..this freaking playoffs started in mid april. it's mid june now and we still dont have a champion! i been watching majority of the games so far and i just watched some of game 1. i was like what's the point. i will watch it when games start to count. i am not about to waste 2.5 hours a day watching two random teams that mean nothin to me.
