East vs West: A Look at TV Ratings for NBA Conference Championships

The conference championships for the NBA have been two completely different stories regarding television viewership. Many factors can be looked at when assessing viewership. The size of the television markets in the area surrounding the teams is a big factor. Another significant factor is the time that the games are played. Many east coast viewers prefer a start time of 8:00 or 8:30 rather than after 9:00. Although significant factors can be looked at when assessing viewership, the factor that is most telling is fan interest in the game.

San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies
Game one of this series was a Sunday afternoon game. This game was far from successful in strength of television viewers. This game was the lowest rated conference final opener since 2007. The game drew a 3.9 overnight rating on ABC. A popular game one of the conference finals last year was the Heat vs. Celtics. This game as a comparison was viewed by 41% more people.

Game two was not much better for the series. Although the game went to overtime, only 4.6 million viewers watched the action. As a comparison, game two of the Heat vs. Celtics series last year drew 8.8 million viewers.

Not clear enough information is available for game three or four, but it can be expected that ratings were not strong as the series ended in a sweep.

Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers
Game one of this series started on a Wednesday night. Although the time of week was not ideal, this game drew a 5.3 rating with 8.2 million viewers tuning in. Game one ended up being a great game that Miami edged out in overtime. The large difference in game one viewership between the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference represented the biggest gap since 2004.

Game two and three do not have information posted yet. You can expect game two viewership to be high because it was a great game that Indiana was able to win. Game three may have less of a viewership because the result was decisive.

Final Thought
A clear interest has been shown in the Heat and Pacers series. The same can not be said for the Western Conference Finals. The presence of the big three in Miami certainly attribute to the ratings. Although the Western Conference Finals ended in San Antonio sweeping Memphis, the series was closer than it may appear. If Miami goes on to play in the NBA Finals, I expect television ratings to be about average compared to other seasons. If the Pacers can upset the Heat in the east, I expect television ratings to be down for the Finals.

@dmrosen7 

Big 3 Impact on the Heat

The Miami Heat are pursuing another NBA Championship. In the summer of 2010, the Heat resigned Dwyane Wade and brought in Chris Bosh and Lebron James. This trio was expected to bring the team success for the foreseeable future. The first season after the team was assembled, the Heat went on to the championship but ended up losing to the Dallas Mavericks. In 2012, the Heat found themselves back in the Finals. This time they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the championship. This year looks promising for the Miami Heat, but there is a lot of basketball still to play.

The acquisitions that were made in order to create the big three have paid off on the court. Below I will assess the impact the big three have made off the court in the area of attendance and team value.

Attendance
Attendance figures are often skewed because of the differing size of basketball arenas. In the data I looked at the 2012 season was also impacted by less games due to the lockout. I looked at average fans per home games specifically for the Miami Heat in order to assess the attendance impact of the big three.

In the 2010 season (the season before the big three) the Miami Heat averaged 17,730 fans per home game. In 2011, the first season after the acquisition, the Heat averaged 19,778 fans per home game. The increase in fans was quite significant in the first year and the impact of the big three has not faded since. In the shortened 2012 season, fans per home game attendance grew slightly to 19,935. This season has kept attendance high with an average of 19,982 fans per home game.

Team Value
The team value of the Miami Heat was taken by Forbes each year. Teams value in the NBA have naturally been increasing each year but not at the rate that the Heat have seen.

In the 2010 season the Miami Heat were valued at an estimated $425 million. The season after the acquisition saw a rise in estimated value to $457 million. After a lockout season, NBA team values skyrocketed. In an estimated valuation done in January of 2013, the Miami Heat were worth $625 million.

Final Thought
The numbers tell the story for the Miami Heat. The success of the team has been evident on the court and even more so off the court. It is often difficult to see true impact by simply assessing numbers. I have seen the Heat impact for myself through my family. My grandfather, a Florida resident, has never been an NBA fan. I was watching game three of the Heat vs. Bulls series and he was avidly rooting for the Heat (while I was rooting for the underdog). He then told me that he watches all the Heat games he can because it is fun to watch "true talent." Interesting.

@dmrosen7

ESPN Bias

ESPN has a well-documented history of biased coverage, most notably on their signature show SportsCenter.  In 2012 thus far, ESPN’s bias has seemingly reared its ugly head more often than ever before.  The topic was discussed extensively in the sports business class that I took over spring term at Drexel with NBC Universal/Comcast Sports Group Senior Vice President of Sports Content, Mike Sheehey.  Whenever the topic of bias was brought up, Mr. Sheehey constantly harped on the “BooYah’s” and the “Back Back Back’s”.  Personally, I believe ESPN’s bias runs much deeper than that. 

We will get to you on Monday in Dollars & Sense, Mr. Berman.

I don’t want to get into nostalgia and dashed future expectations, but as an avid (maybe fanatic) sports fan I have literally watched this ESPN bias unfold before my eyes.  Growing up, I was that kid who would wake up and immediately watch SportsCenter.  I would watch rerun after rerun if I had the time.  The highlights and surface analysis never got old to me.  Maybe I was simply young and naïve. 

ESPN has changed since the good ole days of the 90s (yes 90s kids, I know you’re all with me on that one).  As I’ve gotten older and (hopefully) gotten wiser, I have begun to notice what ESPN truly is.   SportsCenter isn’t about sports highlights and it sure as hell isn’t about sports news.  SportsCenter epitomizes the entire ESPN business, a business that's out there solely to service their partners. 

The proof is in the numbers.  I want to thank Deadspin for doing the leg work here in their BristolMetrics section.  Let's crunch the numbers from last week.

Understandably, the NBA received the most coverage out of any league.  However, is over 100 minutes more coverage than the next closest league really justifiable?  Major League Baseball is in full swing of their season, yet the NBA deserves 100 more minutes (NBA - 178.75 minutes vs. MLB – 75.5 minutes).  I don’t see that as being impartial.  The bias runs deeper more when you check out the most covered teams by sport.  The Miami Heat got 143.25 minutes of coverage.  A whopping 132.75 minutes more than the next closest team, which not surprisingly was the New York Yankees. 

Winning a championship is great, but does it warrant that  much coverage.

ESPN’s bias is even more relevant when looking at the breakdown by player.  Six of the top fifteen players based on mentions were Miami Heat players.  Four more were Oklahoma City Thunder players, making ten of the top fifteen players mentioned coming from the NBA.  To make matters worse, LeBron James was mentioned 280 times in one week.  The next closest you ask?  Kevin Durant… with 113 mentions.  ESPN lovin’ LeBron James much?

It is one thing if ESPN simply loves the NBA more than every other league.  However, the reason is that they are solely out to protect their television interests.  Take a look at the week of June 8 to June14.  Both the NBA Finals were occurring and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals were wrapping up.  This is the perfect comparison because both leagues were in their championship finals and the NBA has a television deal with ESPN while the NHL does not.  Let’s rattle off the numbers.  Time by league: NBA – 190.5 minutes vs. NHL – 31 minutes.  Most covered teams by sport: Miami Heat (again) – 144 minutes vs. Los Angeles Kings – 29 minutes.  Top fifteen most mentioned athletes: NBA - 10 out of 15 vs. NHL – 1 out of 15.  Even if ESPN is biased, the numbers ain’t. 

The scary part about all of the clear numbers to support ESPN’s bias is their coverage (in this case lack thereof) of the Jerry Sandusky trial.  I don’t need to remind you of gory details and the magnitude of the case.  It does seem like ESPN needed to be reminded.  From June 8 to June 14, ESPN covered the Sandusky trial (the first week of the trial), for an unsatisfactory 45 seconds.  Yes, I am aware that I have typed seconds instead of minutes.  The NBA got 254 times more coverage on SportsCenter than the biggest tragedy to rock the sports world possibly ever. 

Biggest tragedy possibly in the history of sports, goes relatively uncovered by the Worldwide Leader.

Still believe that ESPN is a company of integrity?  Check this one out.  Last week, from June 15 to June 21 (the day before the Sandusky verdict was reached), the Sandusky trial was covered for 1 minute.  In comparison, the Roger Clemens trial received 6 minutes of coverage.  I know, I’ll give you a minute to let that all sink in… If you’ve been catching what I’ve been throwing throughout, then I think it goes without saying that ESPN has a television deal with the Big 10 conference.  Oh yea, and Penn State is one of the marquee teams in the conference.  As for Clemens, I think it is safe to assume that he has been irrelevant long enough for his trial not to impact ESPN’s television deal with MLB. 

Maybe I’m stuck in a childlike state of innocence that still believes the world is pure and good.  Maybe I’m some jaded sports fanatic that wants to bring back the good times.  Regardless of what I may be, you can’t argue with the numbers.  SportsCenter should be for sports highlights and sports news, not servicing the suits.  

Tweet Follow @kevin_rossi

2012 NBA Champions- The Heat

On June 21st the Miami Heat won the 2012 NBA Championship, just in case you haven't tuned into ESPN in the last few days...

What Did It Cost Them?

It is no secret that the Miami Heat won the championship thanks to premier talent. Miami's "big three" got paid for it too. Chris Bosh and LeBron James made $16,022,500 in salary for the year and Dwyane Wade made $15,691,000. Although these salaries will not make anyone feel compelled to start a charity for the big three, they did give up significant money to make this team happen. Had LeBron James signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers or any other team without an established superstar two years ago, he would have set himself up to be the highest paid player in the league. James potentially could have made up to $10 million more this past season had he chose to. LeBron realized that his chances of winning an NBA championship would drastically increase by joining the Heat. No one can argue that giving up millions of dollars for an NBA championship proves that LeBron truly cares about winning. The source of LeBron's desire for winning is up for debate, it could come from competitive spirit, his lasting legacy, or the need to "shut the haters up." Although we may never find out where the desire comes from, we do know now that LeBron has the monkey off his back, yet he still has a lot to live up to thanks to the big three's coming out party. 

Bright Future?

Now that the big three have won a championship, many will question what the potential for this team is in future years. The big three are still rather youthful with a 28 year old Chris Bosh, a 27 year old LeBron James and a 30 year old Dwyane Wade. There are no signs of the big three breaking up anytime soon. Another contributing factors to the championship this year was the role players stepping up. In game four of the NBA finals, Mario Chalmers stepped up with a big 25 point performance. In the closing game five, Mike Miller scored 23 points that helped the Heat win their first championship in the "big three era." With rumors of the Heat looking to acquire a veteran point guard and Miller's injuries making his playing future uncertain, the team could have a different look when it comes to role players. Even with a few potential changes, the big three will keep the Heat in prime position to win it all again next year. Early odds for the 2013 NBA championship puts the Miami Heat as favorites at 11/4 odds. 

Final Thought

When LeBron James made his decision to "take his talents to South Beach" he was ridiculed greatly. He did not help his image when he failed to step up in the 2011 NBA Finals. After a dominating performance in the 2012 NBA Finals, James may have helped to better his image among fans league-wide. At the end of the day though, it really does not matter what anyone thinks about LeBron James or the Miami Heat. The Heat are 2012 NBA Champions, and fans all around the NBA can only hope for their team to have a parade. (Check out the right hand side of the video at the 18 second mark)

 @dmrosen7

Statistics from espn.com, cbssports.com