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New York Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Three NBA Finals presentation adjustments NBA, ESPN should make for Game 2
'Everything about this NBA Finals presentation looks like a regular-season game,' The Athletic's Chris Vannini noted in the NBA Finals Game 1 live blog, in a good summary of some of the discourse online. The NBA Finals are all about game-to-game adjustments. Based on widespread fan discussion during the Indiana Pacers' thrilling win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Thursday night's Game 1, here are several changes the NBA and ESPN might consider heading into Game 2 or as the series travels to Indiana next week. Advertisement In 2014, the NBA removed the huge Finals logo decal from the court for player safety reasons. Fair enough. That doesn't mean the league can't put a smaller decal — the script 'Finals' is always an elegant look — on the court. Fans watching on TV might even be willing to accept a digitized overlay of the logo on the screen, if it's in the service of making the court visuals more fitting for the special occasion. 'This game doesn't look like an NBA Finals game,' The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov said Thursday night. 'Yes, the finals midcourt logo hasn't been there for a few years. And the only script visible on the court is for a beer company advertiser. 'Heck, the only way to guess it's a finals game is all the ads crammed onto the TV all at once (I'm counting five that can be seen at once just on the court). It is a little odd that the NBA put so much into making the NBA Cup so distinct visually that those games now look more distinct than a finals game.' While we're talking about the finals logo: The small patch above the player name on the back of each jersey is too subtle. The league can take a cue from the College Football Playoff and put something big and bold on the front, by the shoulder. (Not suggesting they cover the sponsor patch or the Nike swoosh, simply that they add in a more prominent patch that commemorates that the team is playing in the finals. It's not clutter, it's classy.) One way to help with the commonly held observation that these two teams are relatively unknown is to introduce the lineups through — quite literally — player introductions. Put a name to a face, mediated through a booming PA announcer's voice. Let viewers hear the OKC home fans boo visiting would-be villains like Tyrese Haliburton or go crazy for their hometown stars. How Thunder fans react to the introduction of Haliburton in Game 2 has become a real storyline of the game, along with how Pacers fans in Indiana greet him or the Thunder. Will Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earn a 'Free! Throw! Mer! Chant!' call from Indiana fans? Let fans sitting at home experience that. Advertisement Part of elevating this new generation of stars to casual fans is to do those little extra things that elevate them. An on-screen graphic of the starting fives, like it's a Thursday night in January, doesn't do the event justice. Shaquille O'Neal, along with his 'Inside The NBA' colleagues, will be joining the ESPN family next season after years of setting the standard for NBA entertainment on TNT. One of the best moments of Thursday's broadcast was Shaq unexpectedly crashing ESPN's pre-game set on live TV. .@SHAQ crashed the NBA Countdown set NBA Finals Game 1 | NOW on ABC — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 6, 2025 That kind of spontaneity and frolic put into relief ESPN's existing interpretation of the pre-game show — and why the network acquired the license to broadcast 'Inside The NBA' next season. With Shaq joining ESPN, the NBA and ESPN would be well-served to show him before the game, at halftime and during the game, if he is willing to chime in from his courtside seat. If Kenny Smith, also on-site helping with Turner's NBA TV coverage, can jump in, all the better. Fans can't get enough of the 'Inside'-style authenticity and camaraderie, and it has the additional benefit of highlighting that Shaq and the 'Inside' crew will be appearing on ESPN starting this fall. Are there any other adjustments you'd like to see from the NBA or ESPN about the game presentation? Leave them in the comments below.
USA Today
02-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
TV execs say they don't care about NBA Finals ratings and you shouldn't, either
TV execs say they don't care about NBA Finals ratings and you shouldn't, either The 2024 NBA Finals featured a matchup between the Boston Celtics, the league's second-most recognizable franchise, and the Dallas Mavericks, who hail from the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. It averaged just over 11.3 million viewers per game. Chances are that the 2025 NBA Finals, featuring the decidedly small-market Oklahoma City Thunder and Indianapolis Pacers, may likely have many fewer viewers. As a silly sticking point arises about just how many people might (or might not) watch a championship round that doesn't involve any of the NBA's traditional powers, this is worth noting. As a basketball fan and general ball-knower, to that I say: who cares? It turns out that NBA TV executives also aren't really concerned about how many folks will flip their tubes to the league's last meaningful basketball until around Halloween. According to a story from The Athletic's Mike Vorkunov, the league probably doesn't care much about how many people will actually watch the Thunder and Pacers duke it out over the next few weeks. Why? Because the NBA's extremely new TV contracts with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon are already set in stone. Which means the most important revenue is guaranteed regardless of what happens in the 2025 finals. If you're someone with the NBA, the time to crow about the bottom line will be over a decade from now. If you're a fan, again, I'm unsure why you care at all. More from The Athletic: 'There's really no direct impact between ratings and financial success, certainly in the near term,' a former league exec told The Athletic. 'If you have bad ratings for the next decade, then that limits your TV rights. But I don't think anyone in the NBA is worried about that right now because the revenues for TV are guaranteed.' This logic makes sense to anyone who's been paying attention. The NBA's future with three of the biggest television broadcasters in the world is secure. For a long time. The league is not going to storm out in a huff if no one wants to see Tyrese Haliburton get hounded by Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace every three nights. Now with all of that said, this is my informal speech to anyone still concern-trolling about this year's finals ratings, now that we know that the NBA probably isn't even concerned: Why do you care about the NBA's potentially low finals ratings? Do you watch high-level sports purely so you can feel like you're one of the NBA's C-suite executives? Do you like to imagine you get to wear a fancy little suit to the NBA's offices in Manhattan? Do the NBA's profit margins really "worry" you more than any of the basketball being played? Actually, do you even care about the basketball, or do you just want to diminish two small-market franchises and fanbases finally experiencing a hint of success in a league with a history of nonexistent parity? Does downplaying the inherent, wonderful magic of championship-caliber sports teams, which is why most of us well-adjusted people watch, make you feel like a better person? Why? You know what? All of that is rhetorical. Don't even bother answering. Instead, grow up and stop hemming and hawing about something that has nothing to do with how you should experience any sort of sports.
New York Times
02-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
About that Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals ratings talk, plus a wild baseball/softball Sunday
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Win your regional today. We begin this morning with a narrative you'll hear parroted across all channels of sports media: This NBA Finals matchup is a TV ratings nightmare. Commissioner Adam Silver must be sick. All those rich executives crying poor about two mid-market teams playing in the league's biggest event on the calendar. But, as Mike Vorkunov wrote this morning, that's not accurate — not exactly. Two layers of this nuanced story I want to highlight: So, in reality, the league is simply hoping for a long series. Read Mike's story for plenty more depth there. Let's keep moving: The last time we talked about the Colorado Rockies, things were bleak. They were on pace to be worse than last year's White Sox, who lost 121 games. Things have only gotten worse for the Rockies since. Three stats to make your jaw twitch: We will continue with Rockies Watch until the numbers improve. Onward: Messi card drama deepens Back in March, The Athletic's Larry Holder wrote a story about some Lionel Messi-autographed cards failing authentication — and in the months since, multiple autographed cards via Topps have been refused authentication, our follow-up investigation found. Topps has yet to publicly acknowledge any of these issues but has informed buyers it will remake any autographed cards that fail authentication. Some of those cards are worth up to $100,000. Sheesh. Advertisement Royals promote Caglianone It was time, despite it being short: Jac Caglianone is heading to the big leagues after a sprint through Kansas City's farm system, where he mashed baseballs at every stop. Caglianone was the No. 6 pick in last year's draft and was playing for Florida at this time in 2024. In 50 minor-league games this year, he's hit .322 with a .982 OPS. Now the only question is: Can he play the outfield well enough? Scouting report here. Top 2 seeds done on wild baseball Sunday As mentioned above, the NCAA baseball tournament has emulated its basketball counterpart in every way this weekend, as both the Nos. 1 and 2 overall seeds — Vanderbilt and Texas — saw seasons end in their own regional yesterday. The Commodores earn the sad historical mark of being the first top overall seed to not even make a regional final. Five regional hosts got bounced, with four others facing elimination today — including my LSU Tigers. Gulp. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. To the scientist, karma is a metaphysical creation of the mind, an emotional scheme to make us feel good about how the world works. On the softball field yesterday, though, we saw a beautifully karmic cause and effect. We can judge this by two images: That's UCLA's Megan Grant, whose two-run home run tied the Bruins' Women's College World Series matchup against Tennessee at 4-4 in the top of the seventh. When she crossed home, she overstepped the plate, and a teammate guided her back to step on it. According to the rule book, she should be out. And yet, due to an obscure rule, umpires determined the play was not reviewable. The illegal home run stood. So the Lady Vols, coached by the legendary Karen Weekly, turned around in the bottom of the ninth and did this: this is for your appendix g 📺 ABC — Tennessee Softball (@Vol_Softball) June 1, 2025 Tennessee moves on to the semifinals, which take place today, to face Texas. 📺 WCWS: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Texas Tech 7 p.m. ET on ESPN This is an elimination game for the Sooners, winners of the last three national titles. The Red Raiders are led by maybe the most interesting player in college softball right now, NiJaree Canady, whose transfer to TTU in the offseason made a big splash. They'll play again at 9:30 p.m. if OU wins. Advertisement 📺 MLB: Mets at Dodgers 10:10 p.m. ET on MLB Network L.A. gets its second New York team in as many series against a team just as good as the Yankees. Tough sledding. The Dodgers did pick up two of three against the Yanks. Good TV. Get tickets to games like these here. I love these pieces, especially for a team as compelling as the Knicks: Go inside their historic season with James L. Edwards III and Fred Katz to see everything that went wrong just two wins shy of the finals. Make time for this today. More than 12,000 readers voted in our MLB All-Quarter Century Team poll. Today, Jayson Stark bravely asks: Who got it right — him or The People? Matthew Fairburn published an incredible deep dive into how the Buffalo Sabres have failed so spectacularly and, most importantly, who to blame. How new Bears coach Ben Johnson responded to getting fired by the Dolphins in 2019 helped lead to his rapid NFL rise, Adam Jahns writes. Our newest show, 'The Tennis Podcast,' is broadcasting every day from Roland Garros. Make sure to catch up here. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on 'Inside the NBA' signing off, for now. Most-read on the website yesterday: Bill Belichick's contract buyout changed yesterday. Matt Baker explained what that means. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
BONUS: Why your NBA friends are talking about a ‘conspiracy'
The NBA is one of the biggest sports leagues on the planet. It's wildly sophisticated and professional. They wouldn't rig their own draft lottery... right? We explain why many hoops fans have been claiming a 'conspiracy' in the last week and respected NBA writer Mike Vorkunov debunks the theories. Featured: Mike Vorkunov, basketball writer, The Athletic.
