Stern on the ratings.

NBA Commissioner David Stern, commenting on the record-low ratings for the 2007 NBA Finals:

June 12, Sports Illustrated

“What it means to us is that we had two very bad games, and you would expect bad ratings. … But what it also means is that we led the night in the key demographic on our network, and increasingly it’s not about how you did last year. It’s about how you did against your competition. And against our competition we’re doing great. … Thirty million people visited streamed highlights on NBA.com [in February of this season] … Our fans, like so many other fans, are beginning to consume their sports in a completely different way and we’re totally prepared for that consumption.”

June 13

“We’ve had, shall I say, inelegant games, and the ratings show me that our fans are very discerning. … I’m disappointed because I think if we had a great series, we’d be up at 9s. … But there is an ongoing erosion in all ratings on television today.”

June 14, “The Dan Patrick Show”

“We knew more or less it was coming. … We understand that this hasn?t been a particularly good series, not as competitive as our fans would have liked. We?re doing well against our competition on the nights. In other words, for three hours we deliver a great demographic and lead the way. But clearly, there are people abandoning television, and some of those people are abandoning it in favor of other sources of information about our game.”