Sandomir - NBA TV Ratings in Tank

The NBA Finals must be important, Stephen A Smith is yelling louder at every appearance.
I heard him at McDonalds yesterday across from the studio

GIMME A #1 WITH A diet coke and make damn sure those fries are hot

 

Quick question, and I mean this legitimately...

Should ratings continue to tank for the next couple of years, does this have any effect on player salaries in the future?

 

I posted this on the "Will you be watching" thread, but it bears repeating:

 

I think the NBA sucks these days, but lets take the ratings into context.

Ratings for all shows are falling. With over 100 channels to choose from, that's just the way of the world.

What I think would be more enlightening would be where the NBA Finals ranked against other programming in its time slot. If it was the No. 1 choice, then the lower ratings aren't as big a deal. But if its getting clubbed by Ghost Hunters, Racheal Ray's $40 A Day and Saul Of The Mole Men, then it's time to panic.

 

The ratings for all playoff series suck because people want to be instantly gratified rather than watch several times over the course of a couple weeks to see who wins. It has nothing to do with who is in the series. If the series went to seven games, the ratings would rise over the course of the series.

The ratings system is also inherently flawed. I doubt they are accurately recording the numbers of people who watch in groups, whether at a friend's house or in a restaurant.

 

Calm down, It's one year. But like I've been saying all along, by the time I get to your age, the MLB will be in the shitter. Keep saying all this "BUT THE KIDS STILL LOVE IT, BASEBALL IS PERFECT" and try to be in denial. But in time, you're gonna start seeing it.

P.S. Attendance numbers has nothing to do with what kids like these days.

 

Chuck, you got crushed last time you tried this argument.

 

I didn't get "crushed"

The "BASEBALL is PEEEEEEEEEEEEERFECT CLUB" members came down and told me about the attendance numbers. What does attendance numbers have to do with kids playing the game?

 

Ask the NHL

 

You got crushed when your only evidence for "Kids playing the game," turned out to be people you personally know. Said anecdotal evidence was then countered with actual, you know, numbers and you looked pretty silly.

You then tried to shift your argument to say that basketball would soon be the dominant sport WORLDWIDE, at which point several people pointed out that soccer held that distinction AND that baseball is AT LEAST as popular, and likely more popular, worldwide, than basketball.

I'm not going to go through it again, but we've been here before, and it didn't work out well for you.

 

Evidence? You guys countered my "my friends dont play baseball" arguments with "my kids play baseball".

And I didn't say basketball was right up there with soccer. I said that basketball was becoming the "hot new thing" over seas and that people are starting to play it a lot more.

 

If the NBA wants to spice the ratings, get the best teams into the Finals.
The East is a joke and has been since 1999. And with Odom and Durant going to the West, it's only going to get more skewed.
So ...

Seed the teams 1-8 in each conference.
Reseed the teams in the conference semifinals in case there are upsets (as with Golden State over Dallas).
Then for the last four teams, seed by records and if you crossover by conferences, so be it.

So this year, the East would have been:
1. Detroit-8. Orlando
2. Cleveland-7. Washington
3. Toronto-6. New Jersey
4. Miami-5. Chicago

In the second round
1. Detroit-6. New Jersey
2. Cleveland-5. Chicago

For the sake of argument, say Detroit (53-29) and Cleveland (50-23) won

The West would have been
1. Dallas-8. Golden State
2. Phoenix-7. L.A. Lakers
3. San Antonio-6. Denver
4. Utah-5. Houston
In the second round
2. Phoenix-8. Golden State
3. San Antonio-4. Utah

For the sake of argument, say Phoenix (61-21) and San Antonio (58-24) advances.

So your semifinals would have been
Detroit-San Antonio
Cleveland-Phoenix

And the potential would be very good to have a San Antonio-Phoenix Finals. And that would have drawn a much better number than this garbage is getting now.