It was no surprise that the NBA renewed its television deal with Disney and Turner. After all, there were really no other options. FOX and CBS are loaded with winter sports, and NBC does not want to pay for anything — part of the reason why the network did not make much of a move for Major League Baseball last summer. And in many respects, the new deal is a rousing success. The league will rake in $930 million per year over eight years, a contract worth $7.4 billion.
What was surprising was the fact that David Stern and company decided to keep the television aspect of the deal virtually identical to the current six-year deal. On the television side, TNT’s deal stays exactly the same: 52 regular season games, 48 on Thursday nights; 52 playoff games, including the Conference Finals; the NBA All Star Game and All Star Saturday festivities. ESPN/ABC will air a slightly increased number of games — three for ABC and five for ESPN, all in the playoffs.
Why would the NBA choose to keep the television aspect of this deal exactly the same? Especially coming off of the lowest-rated NBA Finals in history? Especially when four out of five NBA Finals during the current six-year deal have drawn a single-digit average?
Its one thing to keep the same partners from a relatively unsuccessful television deal. Its another thing to keep everything the same, standing pat in a situation where ratings seem to get worse on a yearly basis. While there have been nice bumps in the numbers, such as 2004 and 2006, the fact is that on two occasions during this television deal, the NBA Finals have averaged a rating below 7.0.
The NBA had a chance to be creative with this extension. Why not alternate the All-Star Game between TNT and ABC, so that there would at least some broadcast presence for one of the league’s marquee events? In return, TNT would get the NBA Draft during the years it did not have the All-Star Game — an every-other-year reprieve from having to see Dick Vitale and Stephen A. Smith in a nightmarish split screen. Why not have ABC televise more playoff games? That could easily be done, even despite any objection by ABC Entertainment in regards to interfering with the prime time schedule, by airing a triple-header of games on low-risk Saturdays. Why not mimic baseball and have one Conference Final on TNT, but the other entirely on ABC? Is there anything to be gained from placing the penultimate playoff series almost entirely on cable television?
By focusing so much on digital rights, the NBA turned a blind eye to its problems. By walking away from the low ratings and essentially saying “who cares, people visit our websites”, the NBA may be dooming itself to many more years of mediocrity. Digital rights are important, but television is still, with attendance and merchandise sales, one of the primary outlets through which sports’ mass appeal is viewed. Will anyone care how many people went to NBA.com if the NBA Finals are averaging a 4.3 rating?
When things are failing, you do not stand pat. Unfortunately, it will be another nine years before the NBA is able to make any substantial changes.
