As the predictably low television viewership figures continue to be released with each passing game of the NBA Finals, many in sports media are attempting to look for answers as to why the figures are so dramatically low. In particular, following the release of the figures from Game Two, Cleveland sports talk host Anthony Lima of The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima pondered today on 92.3 The Fan his reasoning why the viewership habits for this NBA Finals have been low.
“You’re getting less people now watching the NBA Finals than last year’s World Series,” said Lima. “That is concerning for the NBA. But as I say that I remember they just signed that TV deal last year that baseball would do very, naughty things to get a deal like that done.”
Lima then pivoted to a reason why he feels the ratings have dipped to near-record levels, which, according to him, has nothing to do with market size or logos not appearing on the hardwood.
“The problem goes back to the super team era that we were involved with. How can anything ever look like what was on the floor in 2017,” noted Lima as he then named off the players of the recent Cavs championship team and Golden State Warriors dynasty teams. “We have gotten away from the super teams now, which is what everybody wanted. Did anybody know the names of any of the guys on the floor last night that would be outside of SGA and Halliburton?”
Furthermore, the Cleveland co-host felt that the average NBA fan and casual viewer grew familiar with the star power of the super teams—including the Miami Heat, Cavaliers, and Warriors—for so long, that’s the difficult part for the league to garner the interest in the Finals this year. Lima said he believes that the NBA could potentially get back to a time where the NBA Finals had mass appeal, but it will take added time to get there.
“Our brains, it’s going to have to be further away from that era of Miami Heat, then the Cavs and the Warriors. Getting further away from those years to recalibrate,” said Lima. “These teams on the floor, despite analytics and what the numbers say. These teams don’t have five hall of famers on it as we sit today. It’s just not going to be as much talent. You’re never going to associate any of these finals’ teams with those teams.”
As evidence of this trend, Sunday’s Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals Game 2 averaged 8.76 million viewers on ABC, down 29% from Mavericks-Celtics and the least-watched Game 2 of the Finals since the Heat-Lakers in the fall 2020 bubble Finals.
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