Cavaliers/Spurs Game 1 drew a 6.3/11 final rating, down 19% from a 7.8/14 last year and the lowest rated Game 1 ever. The game is the third-lowest NBA Finals game since 1981, with only Games 2 and 5 of the 2003 NBA Finals drawing worse numbers. Those two games, which drew ratings of 5.2 and 6.2, respectively, both aired on Friday nights. This is the sixth San Antonio Spurs NBA Finals game to draw less than a 7.0 rating.
Game 2 is Sunday night, head-to-head with the series finale of The Sopranos.
The game drew 9.2 million viewers, more than the amount of viewers who watched every game of the Stanley Cup Finals combined (8.6 million viewers). This was only the seventh NBA Finals game since at least 1981 to draw less than 10 million total viewers, joining all six games between the Spurs and Nets in 2003.
Game 1 had a lower rating than every game of the 2005 NBA Finals between the Spurs and Pistons. Only one game in the 2005 Finals drew less than a 7.0 rating, Game 2 (6.9). Four of the six games in the 2003 NBA Finals drew a higher rating than Game 1 between Cleveland and San Antonio; Game 1 (6.4), Game 3 (7.0), Game 4 (6.6) and Game 6 (7.5).
In other ratings news, Yankees/Red Sox drew a 3.2/8 final rating on FOX last Saturday, tied with an April 21 meeting between the two teams for the highest rated baseball game on the network this season.
