NBA Finals Ratings Sink to All-Time Lows

The NBA took another L Wednesday. This time, in the NBA Finals on ABC with the Lakers and LeBron James.

Only 7.41 million viewers watched the industry-hyped matchup. Per Sports Media Watch, this is the least-watched Finals opener since ... on record.

Game 1 is down an unheard of 44% from last year's matchup, which featured a team from Canada. During last year's Finals tank-job, media members yelled "one team is from Canada," and "there is no LeBron."

Ahh, I see.

The NBA is taking tanking to never-before-seen depths. If LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals can't save this collapse — nothing will. This is the best-case scenario. Imagine these numbers when the Nuggets finally win the West and the media has to push that over the NFL.

Compared to 2018, the last Finals with LeBron, Game 1 is down 58%. That kind of slide is what gets TV shows canceled and showrunners chased out of the business.

Adam Silver complained a few years ago too many NBA games were on cable. Looking at the data, he may want to keep it that way so he has an excuse.

Since 2012, viewership for the NBA on ABC resembles a former yearly revenue chart at Blockbuster headquarters. From 2012 to 2020, broadcast NBA ratings are down 45%. In simple terms: horrific.

Due to self-destruction, the NBA is a mess. The politicization of professional basketball puts ESPN's Mark Jones' left-wing Twitter to shame.

The league is more hypocritical than the participants in Tuesday's debate. Led by social justice warrior LeBron James, the NBA players who claim to put human rights ahead of their dollars are still earning millions from the Chinese Communist Party.

"No comment," that's how LeBron responded to the shooting of two police officers in Los Angeles.

On the other hand, LeBron is changing America — literally. His organization is texting random Florida citizens to pay for felons to vote (for Joe Biden) in the upcoming election.


























He should be paying for their overdue cable bills.

It is not only the players. The broadcasters involved appeared to be auditioning for some new radical news network that no one will watch. A sports fan can't turn on an NBA broadcast without random pundits presenting subjective worldviews as indisputable facts.

In the middle of a halftime show, Jalen Rose yelled, "arrest the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor." Per Jalen Rose, he is more equipped to charge citizens than our legal system.

Where does the NBA turn to save its ratings? Nowhere. It will take years to undo and identity that only welcomes those with the same extreme views based on everything but facts. Which, clearly, isn't that many people.

CC: Mark Cuban.

Follow Bobby Burack on Twitter @burackbobby_.











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Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics.. Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.