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.
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