youre not getting it, thats not what im saying...ratings are going to plummet even further (barring new york, chicago or los angeles in the finals). every year. and it has nothing (well, at least not everything) to do with the product on the floor, even though people will continue to blame it on ghetto culture and selfish players and whatever other stereotypes people like to pile on the nba. its just the fact that everything is becoming alot more customized. there is a channel for everyone these days, and all sports are going to see conventional ratings drop. what we need to do is find a new ratings system. the neilsons are incredibly flawed, and i dont think theyre a good system for measuring popularity.
How do these ratings compare to ratings of the earlier rounds this postseason? I remember reading the ratings for the Golden State/Dallas series being pretty high. I know the ratings for the finals are probably better, due to it being on network TV in primetime, but is the increase lower than it was last year. I think that would be a fairly accurate measure of how many fans are tuning away due to the teams playing.
Haha Stern has to be pissing his pants right now. That's what he gets for making the NBA the crappy sport of what it is today. If the ratings are gonna inevitably drop anyways, why not just change the game to what it was in its glory days? Speaking of Stern.. when is that guy retiring??? He's been on board for like 2 decades! That's dictatorship!
http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/ The Jazz and the Spurs advancing was pretty much the death sentence for the rest of the playoffs.
I think what you aren't getting is the Spurs are a drag on the ratings. Nobody disputes that NBA ratings are falling, for whatever reason. The fact is if the Lakers or Suns were in the Finals instead of the Spurs the ratings would be higher. Having two small market teams is a killer and not even LeBron's popularity can overcome that. If the Knicks or Bulls face the Lakers or Suns next June, the national ratings will be much higher than this year. For that matter, the Rockets are a much better national draw than the Spurs because we are a bigger market and have two high profile players. The perceived lack of competitiveness in this series is also a problem. If the Spurs win game 2, some people will tune the remainder of the Finals out.
Houston is a midsize market, like 10th or 11th in the country. I think you guys are thinking of Dallas.
I'm sure the small-market Spurs are a drag on the ratings. When the Spurs played the Pistons a couple of years ago in the Finals, the ratings dropped significantly (over 30 percent) from the year before (when the Lakers played the Pistons) and the ratings went up the next year for the Heat (market #16) versus Mavericks (market #6) Finals.
That's why there is no "next Jordan" in the league now. The average viewer seems more interested these days in 'marquee' teams like the Lakers than tuning in to watch "The King" play. I really don't think any of these guys today are individually compelling people interested. It's always better to have teams like the Lakers, Bulls, Heat, and Knicks playing, or more 'fun' marketable teams like the current Suns or the former Kings. That's the new reality that the NBA has to be aware of...
Yeah, it's all Stern's fault that defensive oriented teams have had more success in the playoffs than higher scoring teams. It's Stern's fault that there aren't any 120-115 Finals games any more. That evil SOB! Where's Tony Soprano when you need him?! I think we should go back to the glory days before David Stern arrived, when NBA Finals games were broadcast on tape delay at midnight and half the league was snorting cocaine...
Was gonna mention that myself. Bring it back to NBC! The league went with the network that threw the most bucks at them but maybe they should have went with the better working model (imo, NBC basketball coverage was great even in the non-Jordan years). The low ratings are ironic, considering the NBA had record attendance this year. So it had to be a combination of factors - teams in low markets, low market teams with boring styles, lackluster ABC coverage. Sports overall is still a major industry, but its not as high in people's focus as it used to be. People now are more concerned with their own well being, with enhancing their own images and what helps THEM. And the day-to-day happenings in their own lives. Los Angeles is a great example of that - no NFL team, and still they could care less either way. But to far a lesser degree, its getting to be like that everywhere....Blame reality television, women's interests, and increasingly effeminate emo men
