With the Bulls missing their star player and Tiger Woods battling Phil Mickelson on CBS, Sunday’s edition of the NBA on ABC was down by nearly a quarter compared to last year.
Sunday’s Bulls/Celtics NBA regular season game earned a 3.1 overnight rating on ABC, down 24% from last year’s comparable window (LAL/ORL: 4.1), which was the second-half of a doubleheader.
Bulls guard Derrick Rose missed Sunday’s game due to injury.
ABC was also hampered by competition from the final round of the PGA Tour Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (5.1), which featured a pairing of Tiger Woods and rival Phil Mickelson.
For all the talk of strong NBA ratings this year, it should be pointed out that three of the four NBA telecast windows on ABC have been down compared to last year. All three declines have been for games involving the Chicago Bulls.
(Sunday’s numbers from ESPN)
