Ratings for the championship series spanning the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League are down compared to the previous year, rendering scrutinized analysis towards what can be attributed to this shift. Aside from the matchups themselves, which do not contain teams from any major U.S. markets, there is a contention that both leagues missed a chance to bolster the audience by opting not to air a game concurrent with the Father’s Day holiday. David Haugh of 670 The Score concurred with this sentiment during the Monday morning edition of Mully & Haugh as he reflected on the weekend.
Rather than placing pivotal matchups of the final on the holiday, the leagues will instead be playing the seminal games on Monday and Tuesday night, respectively. Aside from regularly-scheduled Major League Baseball games, the Sunday sports slate consisted of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Haugh voiced that he does not care about the number of people who choose to watch either the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Final, but he nonetheless expounded on what the leagues perhaps overlooked pertaining to airing a game on the holiday.
“This was a missed opportunity by both leagues,” Haugh said. “You have a built-in audience already on their couches from the U.S. Open that took forever – took forever – and went into the night, and then you’re right there. One or the other could take the day off, but both makes no sense, so tonight, we’ve got the Pacers in OKC, and tomorrow we’ve got hockey, and I think they both missed an opportunity for a Father’s Day audience gathered around the television sets already to get those eyeballs on those games.”
Dusty Rhoades, the producer of the morning program, voiced that the NHL could have delayed Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final by one more day. While viewership data for the game has not yet been divulged, he opined that Saturday nights in the summertime is not a great instance for live sports game broadcasts. Co-host Mike Mulligan provided a local perspective as to why both leagues failed to capitalize on a putative chance to augment viewership.
“It’s a wasted opportunity – it really is – because of the fact that the ratings aren’t very good,” Mulligan said. “You’ve got an audience that is kind of locked in there – I get it, the golf went later, but it would have been great to turn on. Our baseball teams in Chicago played early. It would have been great to watch a game last night, it would have been a good time to do so as you’re winding down your day.”
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