And NBC has rebounded.

Last Sunday's NBA game on ABC between the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings earned a 1.0 rating and 2 share, an all-time low. The previous low was March 31, 2004 (Dallas-New Jersey, 1.1).

In comparison, the NHL on NBC (Bruins vs. Penguins) earned a 1.0/3 and edged the NBA in viewers (1.31 million to 1.26 million).

ABC reportedly is paying the NBA $400 million per year, while the NHL is paying nothing because of revenue-sharing.

 

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/articl...o_nhl_flexible/

Awesome!

 

NHL>NBA

NHL>NBA

NHL>NBA

Not surprising that it would be that low considering the basketball fan viewing audience was split with the NCAA tournament and no one cares about the Kings.

NHL>NBA

Not surprising that it would be that low considering the basketball fan viewing audience was split with the NCAA tournament and no one cares about the Kings.

QFT

Congrats to the NHL for beating the Kings and basketballs split crowd! lol

Not surprising that it would be that low considering the basketball fan viewing audience was split with the NCAA tournament and no one cares about the Kings.

This.

A 1.0 is pretty sad in both cases, but I guess (or hope, rather, for NBC's and ABC's sake) that the NCAA Tourney had a lot to do with it. I mean NBC's probably pulling a 1.0 at 2 AM.

NHL>NBA

that and along with said split audience, the nba on abc is the worst presentation ever.

 

 

of course maybe if they had a frickin regular game throughout the year like nbc had it would be a little better. But then their presentation would stifle that.

You can say the kings are terrible, but so are the bruins.

 

The NHL has beaten the NBA in attendance the past few seasons as well.

You can say the kings are terrible, but so are the bruins.

 

The NHL has beaten the NBA in attendance the past few seasons as well.

 

Except for that season when they drew zero.

 

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyo.

 

No, seriously, the NHL always points at attendance numbers, but those numbers are skewed, a lot of the butts are in free seats in bad markets (or $2 seats).

You can say the kings are terrible, but so are the bruins.

 

The NHL has beaten the NBA in attendance the past few seasons as well.

 

Except for that season when they drew zero.

 

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyo.

 

No, seriously, the NHL always points at attendance numbers, but those numbers are skewed, a lot of the butts are in free seats in bad markets (or $2 seats).

 

Where do you see that alot of tickets are free? I have only heard of the panthers doing that, and not at all this season.

 

Two other things. NHL venues are smaller than NBA. When two teams share the arena there is usually 1,000 more seats for NBA than NHL.

 

I just quickly looked at ticketmaster (this doesnt take account the number of seats in each price range) at Panthers vs Heat, Rangers vs Knicks and Devils vs Nets (the teams in south florida and 2 sets of teams that share arenas), all the NBA teams had cheaper upper level tickets. So you find cheaper upper level seats at NBA games than you would at an NHL game.

regardless of what sport you prefer - and it is painfully transparent by the homerism shown by both sides in this thread - one thing that is obvious: both ratings are terrible.

 

that being said - the nba is absolutley plummeting. the entire sport has been in a downfall for some time now, but they're reaching nhl-esque levels in ratings - the one and only thing that they really had over them.

 

on the other hand - the nhl is (slowly) on the upswing. last time this season, the nhl was consistently drawing .5's and .6's. now their ratings are hovering around 1.0-1.3 - still terrible, but rome wasn't built in a day. they are nearly doubling their ratings on nbc as well as on versus, where they have tripled their ratings as of late.

 

...and keep in mind i said verus. not ESPN. what would these ratings be like had the NHL not screwed the pooch and put themselves on an irrelevant network? impossible to say one way or another, but chances are they'd be better off than they are now.

 

the NHL finally has its young superstars in Crosby, AO and Malkin (among others) to compete with the D-Wade's of the world for star-appeal. there's alot less baggage and drama with their stars and alot more parity and excitement in the regular season for most markets.

 

also keep in mind that the nhl is feeding two countries while the the NBA only really feeds one (if you thought hockey was unpopular here.....). if you're comparing their popularity in the US - that statement is irrelevant....but as a whole, the nhl is alot better off than the nba considering this fact. more people watch the nhl in canada alone.

 

attendance is a hot subject in the nhl. some teams do give away vouchers, but it is used as a marketing ploy. the nhl has a disadvantage considering that many markets (especially in the south) are unfamiliar with the sport. the nba doesn't have to deal with that at all. everyone in this country knows what basketball is and how the game is played. the freebies are around, but only a handful of teams do it (florida, washington, nashville, maybe atlanta) and they are dwindling.

 

anyway, my preference is obviously hockey. basketball is still more popular but i have a good feeling that is going to change within the next few years.

The NBA is not plummeting. Anyone who says it is on a downfall has absolutely nothing to back that up besides perception. I'm sorry but the middle part of the Post-All Star Break part of the NBA season is probably one of the most uninteresting things in sports.

 

The NHL is popular in Canada thing is pointless as well. Of course it is. That is like talking about soccer ratings in the US and then backing soccer up by saying a lot of people watch it in Brazil.

 

The fact that the NHL/it's fans have to hang their hat on beating the NBA one time this season when the much more popular NCAA tournament was going on shows how crappy that league's viewership/fanship is.

 

The NHL and its fans are the only ones trying to make this a competition. Every other sport just ignores you.

The NBA is not plummeting. Anyone who says it is on a downfall has absolutely nothing to back that up besides perception. I'm sorry but the middle part of the Post-All Star Break part of the NBA season is probably one of the most uninteresting things in sports.

 

how about a consistent downward spiral in TV ratings? that good enough for you or will you try and hide that with another excuse? perception is one thing - fact is another. something you can't cover with your excuses.

 

The NHL is popular in Canada thing is pointless as well. Of course it is. That is like talking about soccer ratings in the US and then backing soccer up by saying a lot of people watch it in Brazil.

 

no it's not - because the MLS gets nothing out of Brazil. It's a completely different league down there whereas the NHL is feeding two mouths in the united states and canada. if we're discussing the sports popularity in the US - it's irrelevant. if we're discussing the league's wellbeing, it definatley isn't. more people watch the NHL in Canada alone ( a country of 32 million mind you) than the NBA gets from the US.

 

 

 

The fact that the NHL/it's fans have to hang their hat on beating the NBA one time this season when the much more popular NCAA tournament was going on shows how crappy that league's viewership/fanship is.

 

no one is hanging their hat. if you actually read my post, you'd see i said the NBA still has the NHL as far as popularity in this country. but the disparity between the two isn't nearly as big as it was a few years ago. notice the increase in panther-related shows/talk on WQAM? as much as they may want to, they aren't completely ignoring the sport like they were just a few years ago. there still is more heat talk, but not by much anymore.

 

 

The NHL and its fans are the only ones trying to make this a competition. Every other sport just ignores you.

 

who cares if every sport ignores the nhl? what does that have to do with anything? what is important is the fans - and as you see by the numbers, just as many people are ignoring the nba as the nhl right now.

Basketball has the advantage that anyone can just go out and buy a 5 dollar ball and play at a park. If you want to play hockey you need to find a rink, then buy hundreds of dollars of equipment.

 

HD tv will help out hockey alot. A lot of people dont like to watch hockey on the tv because they cant see the puck.

 

Either way it doesnt matter because NBA just flat out sucks.

HD tv will help out hockey alot. A lot of people dont like to watch hockey on the tv because they cant see the puck.

:lol Haha yeah, THATS why nobody watches hockey. Not because they moved their product to a channel nobody can find, but because its so damn hard to see a black puck on a white ice surface.

 

Either way it doesnt matter because NBA just flat out sucks.

Well thats your opinion. A lot more people in the US would say that about NHL than the NBA

Basketball has the advantage that anyone can just go out and buy a 5 dollar ball and play at a park. If you want to play hockey you need to find a rink, then buy hundreds of dollars of equipment.

 

HD tv will help out hockey alot. A lot of people dont like to watch hockey on the tv because they cant see the puck.

 

Either way it doesnt matter because NBA just flat out sucks.

 

LOL at that argument! :lol :lol :lol

Basketball has the advantage that anyone can just go out and buy a 5 dollar ball and play at a park. If you want to play hockey you need to find a rink, then buy hundreds of dollars of equipment.

 

 

Well, this, I think, is why basketball will always remain popular in this country, and why hockey will always remain more of a niche sport. There are just large portions of this country that will never care about the NHL no matter what. There was a time, like 10 years ago, where it really seemed like hockey was becoming part of the culture down here. It doesn't seem like that to me anymore, but this is obviously a matter of perception. I don't see as much roller hockey as I used to. I don't get the sense that people care about the Panthers like they did 10 years ago.

 

But really there's no reason for this NHL on NBA violence. Both sports are fun, both have their fans, etc. Why can't we all just get along?

HD tv will help out hockey alot. A lot of people dont like to watch hockey on the tv because they cant see the puck.

:lol Haha yeah, THATS why nobody watches hockey. Not because they moved their product to a channel nobody can find, but because its so damn hard to see a black puck on a white ice surface.

 

 

 

So i guess you dont remember a few years ago when Fox had their fox track (whatever its called) that would light up the puck. The way they set it up didn't work, but the reason they tried it was because not being able to follow the puck was a complaint they were getting from viewers.

Basketball has the advantage that anyone can just go out and buy a 5 dollar ball and play at a park. If you want to play hockey you need to find a rink, then buy hundreds of dollars of equipment.

 

 

Well, this, I think, is why basketball will always remain popular in this country, and why hockey will always remain more of a niche sport. There are just large portions of this country that will never care about the NHL no matter what. There was a time, like 10 years ago, where it really seemed like hockey was becoming part of the culture down here. It doesn't seem like that to me anymore, but this is obviously a matter of perception. I don't see as much roller hockey as I used to. I don't get the sense that people care about the Panthers like they did 10 years ago.

 

But really there's no reason for this NHL on NBA violence. Both sports are fun, both have their fans, etc. Why can't we all just get along?

I dunno. I'm not saying this is the norm, but in general, the NBA fans on here take every chance to ridicule hockey. Its inevitable.

 

 

Like it all started with us saying the NHL was greater than the NBA. Ok, that is our opinion, leave us to our opinion and don't ridicule us for having it.

 

 

As it stands, I think hockey is much better than basketball to me. But I won't be redundant so I agree with the argument that the sport of basketball is much more accesible.

Basketball has the advantage that anyone can just go out and buy a 5 dollar ball and play at a park. If you want to play hockey you need to find a rink, then buy hundreds of dollars of equipment.

 

 

Well, this, I think, is why basketball will always remain popular in this country, and why hockey will always remain more of a niche sport. There are just large portions of this country that will never care about the NHL no matter what. There was a time, like 10 years ago, where it really seemed like hockey was becoming part of the culture down here. It doesn't seem like that to me anymore, but this is obviously a matter of perception. I don't see as much roller hockey as I used to. I don't get the sense that people care about the Panthers like they did 10 years ago.

 

But really there's no reason for this NHL on NBA violence. Both sports are fun, both have their fans, etc. Why can't we all just get along?

I dunno. I'm not saying this is the norm, but in general, the NBA fans on here take every chance to ridicule hockey. Its inevitable.

 

 

Like it all started with us saying the NHL was greater than the NBA. Ok, that is our opinion, leave us to our opinion and don't ridicule us for having it.

 

 

As it stands, I think hockey is much better than basketball to me. But I won't be redundant so I agree with the argument that the sport of basketball is much more accesible.

 

the problem i have with most fans that ridicule the game is they do it out of ignorance. they don't understand the game - so instead of making an effort to learn the rules and the intricacies of what makes the sport so intense, they just bash it because it's easier.

 

i have no respect for anyone like that. if they took the time to TRULY learn the sport, go to a few games and look at it with an OPEN mind....and still didn't like it, well then, that's fine. i know basketball. i have played it, i understand it, i've been to several heat games. but i think the sport is terrible. that's my preference. i like games with tension and intensity. i don't get any of that from watching a basketball game. 100% of the people I have introduced to hockey have come away beyond impressed and, at least to a point, have followed it ever since.

 

it's not for everyone. i know that. but i'd be willing to bet my life that at least 90% of the people who continously say hockey sucks, say it out of ignorance. they don't know, so they don't care. it's idiotic, but it doesn't surprise me at all really. let them be.