The interest in Sunday night’s NBA Finals Game 7 was at a level we haven’t seen since Michael Jordan was doing his thing with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.
The Golden State Warriors couldn’t hold off LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the process, they ended a 52-year pro sports title drought for their loyal fans in Cleveland, just one of the top takeaways from the series.
In the end, after the confetti had fallen and James had walked off the court at Oracle Arena with the both the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy and the MVP trophy, the big game drew an 18.9 overnight rating. It was the highest overnight rating for an NBA Finals game since the Jordan era, per sportstvratings.com.
Not surprisingly, a high percentage of people who own televisions in San Francisco and Cleveland were watching.
“The game drew a 46.3 rating (on average 46.3 % of the homes in Cleveland were watching) and 39.4 rating in San Francisco,” per the report.
To put the rating into perspective, however, check out this crazy stat from Darren Rovell of ESPN.
Huge 18.9 overnight rating for Game 7. A different era but 1998 NBA Finals (MJ's last on Bulls) AVERAGED an 18.9 overnight rating
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 20, 2016
Perhaps things will turn around if James stays in Cleveland instead of opting out and signing with a big-market team. He’s still the biggest superstar in the NBA right now, despite the amazing exploits of Stephen Curry and the Warriors the past two years.
It’s encouraging that so many people tuned into this year’s NBA Finals Game 7. The NFL has been dominating ratings for years now, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the NBA to make a comeback.