The Rest of the NBA

[SunMo]

its hilarious that the NBA gets their dream matchup and the NHL is on the brink of the worst finals ever as far as hype/ratings go

[ice grillin you]

at the same time nhl is on the verge of having a dream finals

but yeah it could go horribly wrong.....and they have back to back game 7 conference finals for the third time ever and theres more talk about klay thompson and the nba's concussion protocol

[SunMo]

the first mistake was having a game 7 fall on a friday night.  that's a terrible sports night.  they should have done both on saturday back to back

[ice grillin you]

they must have just given up at even trying to get more fans....they know what they have and that they are going to get the same exact people to watch these two games no matter when they are on

but yeah back to back would be awesome....even like a sat afternoon back to back at 1 and 4 ala football

[Rome]

Casual fans really don't care, though. If LeBron wasn't involved the series might be ignored entirely

[ice grillin you]

casual viewers def watch the nba finals....thats why their viewership skyrockets in the playoffs and finals

stars definitely help but lebron or not nba finals is always going to get around 15 million people

[MDS]

casual viewers def watch the nba finals....thats why their viewership skyrockets in the playoffs and finals

stars definitely help but lebron or not nba finals is always going to get around 15 million people

thats not accurate

[ice grillin you]

what has the nba finals average over the last 25 years....i thought it did btwn 10-20 million

as for casual viewers thats 100% fact

[MDS]

it does

but there is a definite, significant fluctuation when the matchup is good and the matchup is bad. lebron/no lebron is a substantial thing.

it is however, NOT as substantial as what the nhl faces. i cant remember a bigger potential difference between the holy grail (ny/chi) and meaningless garbage (ana/tb)

[ice grillin you]

yeah i never said there wasnt....but either end in going to be in the 15 million range...below it without a star above with...i was talking to romeys comment that no one would watch if lebron wasnt in it

[MDS]

i can go with that....though by below it you could mean around 9 mil. a really good matchup would easily break 20.

baseball is in the same boat. both are slaves to a handful of teams/players being in the marquee games. only the nfl is above that and only the nhl doesnt really need it. they know what they are and they dont care

[ice grillin you]

my point is its never going to be in the "no one" would watch range of something like the nhl

nba finals no matter what are big ratings

[MDS]

my point is its never going to be in the "no one" would watch range of the nhl

nba finals no matter what are big ratings

what do you classify as "big" ratings. averaging 9-10 mil for a finals wouldnt be considered that, and thats about what an atlanta/memphis series would have done, if not lower.

on the nhl end, id be floored if ducks/lighting hit 4 mil.

[ice grillin you]

under ten million probably never happen in the nba again...but even 9 million still puts it in the top 5 tv shows of the week doesnt it?....i dont consider that no one watching

isnt 4 million very very good for the nhl...i thought their highest ever was like 5 mil

[MDS]

the last 2 series both hit 5 mi....typical playoff games do around 1-2 mil.

im figuring there's a cool 2 mil diehard nhl audience, with the audience increasing if the series goes long. thats why i hit the high water mark at 4. likely around 2. chi/nyr could average 7-8 and hit 10-15 for a game 7.

as for the nba, they didnt hit 10 mil as far back as 06. all ratings are going down, except for the nfl. it can most definitely happen. though since its the summer and nobody watches live tv anymore, it would likely be one of the most watched shows of the week. but thats misleading.