The San Antonio Spurs have played in three NBA Finals. Each year, the series the team played in saw monumental ratings declines from the previous year.
The 1999 NBA Finals, featuring San Antonio versus the New York Knicks, was down 40% from the previous year. The 2003 NBA Finals, featuring San Antonio versus the New Jersey Nets, was down 36% from the previous year. And the 2005 NBA Finals, featuring San Antonio versus the Detroit Pistons, was down 29% from the previous year.
In other words, viewers tune out when the Spurs play. If San Antonio defeats Phoenix in the West Semifinals and advances to the NBA Finals (after a quick stopover in Utah), expect ratings to take another plunge.
With that as a backdrop, consider this: why would David Stern ‘rig’ his league to allow the Spurs to defeat the ratings-friendly Phoenix Suns? Why would the NBA want an unattractive team, from a television standpoint, playing in the biggest event of the year? Logically, it does not make sense. From a business standpoint it does not make sense. If the NBA is manipulating games, there is no way the league is doing it on behalf of the San Antonio Spurs.
The 1,000+ comments on ESPN.com indicate that the vast majority of mainstream sports observers are sorely lacking in rational thought. This is no surprise; anyone who reads the comments sections at mainstream websites like ESPN.com or even the AOL Fanhouse knows that there is a surplus of stupidity on the internet — most of it in all capital letters.
Still, for anyone to argue that David Stern is rigging the league to help the San Antonio Spurs is simply beyond even the garden variety ignorance that is so prevalent online. If anything, the decision to suspend Suns’ players Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw confirms that the league does not manipulate games to its own advantage.
If David Stern truly ‘rigged’ the NBA, LeBron James would not be playing in Cleveland, the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and L.A. Lakers would be championship contenders, and the San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz and every other small-market team would be at the bottom of the playoff picture each and every season. And in 1998, the Lakers would have defeated Utah in the Conference Finals and played Michael Jordan‘s Bulls in a series that would have averaged a 20+ rating and gone seven games.
The NBA is not rigged — and certainly not in favor of a small market, vanilla team like San Antonio. And anyone who thinks otherwise is simply a fool.
