Tonight in Unpacks: The NBA Finals averaged 12.4 million viewers over six games on ABC/ESPN2. SBJ's Austin Karp breaks what the numbers mean for the league.
- Saturday will be busiest day yet for event operator 313 Presents
- How the MLS-Apple deal went down
- How MLS is a first-mover with its all-digital deal
- New York, New Jersey sports betting dinged in May
- NASCAR close to making Chicago race announcement
- Ahmad Nassar set to depart OneTeam Partners
Miss this morning's Buzzcast? SBJ's Abe Madkour gives his takeaways from the 2026 FIFA World Cup site selections. Plus, Rob Manfred talks media and progress in Oakland and LIV Golf players face a mostly friendly gallery.
The NBA Finals averaged 12.4 million viewers for six games on ABC and ESPN2, bouncing back from two COVID-influenced championship rounds the last two years, but not at the level seen in years before the pandemic, writes SBJ’s Austin Karp.
Warriors-Celtics is up 25% from last year’s Bucks-Suns series, which aired in July just on ABC, and up 66% from the all-time-low 7.5 million viewers for Lakers-Heat in 2020, which aired in October from the Disney Worldbubble. But ignoring the two COVID-impacted seasons, Warriors-Celtics it the least watched NBA Finals since the Spurs’ sweep of the Cavaliers in 2007 (9.3 million).
The 2022 NBA Finals is down 18% from 15 million viewers for the Raptors-Warriors series in 2019, and those telecasts did not have figures from any Canadian markets factored into the average. The best figure among the Warriors’ six NBA Finals appearances over the last eight years was the seven-game set against the Cavs in 2016, which averaged 20.2 million.
The clinching Game 6 on Thursday night averaged just under 14 million viewers, up from 12.5 million for Bucks-Suns Game 6 in 2021, and up from 8.3 million for Lakers-Heat Game 6 in 2020. But the game was down from 18.3 million for the clinching Game 6 in 2019. Warriors-Celtics Game 6 easily delivered ABC a prime-time win among all networks.
While Warriors-Celtics was well below the average for many of those matchups before the pandemic, the NBA Finals averaged its highest share of the U.S. TV audience in five years. What does that mean? The overall TV-watching audience continues to decline -- whether its news, sports or entertainment programming. But among the remaining U.S. audience, sports is getting a bigger piece of the pie. It means a property like the NBA Finals has a better share of what remains of that U.S. TV audience vs. what it had five years ago. Something important as the league pitches to advertisers and eventually to media outlets ahead of the next rights pact.
| NBA Finals audience trend | |||
| YEAR | GAMES | VIEWERS (000) | MATCHUP |
| 2022 | 6 | 12,399 | Warriors-Celtics |
| 2021 | 6 | 9,906 | Bucks-Suns |
| 2020 | 6 | 7,468 | Lakers-Heat |
| 2019 | 6 | 15,045 | Raptors-Warriors |
| 2018 | 4 | 17,648 | Warriors-Cavaliers |
| 2017 | 5 | 20,406 | Warriors-Cavaliers |
| 2016 | 7 | 20,215 | Cavaliers-Warriors |
| 2015 | 6 | 19,939 | Warriors-Cavaliers |
| 2014 | 5 | 15,524 | Spurs-Heat |
| 2013 | 7 | 17,667 | Heat-Spurs |
OnSaturday night, all six of the venues under the purview of 313 Presents will be simultaneously hosting a live event, a first for the company, which is ajoint venture between Ilitch Sports & Entertainment and the Pistons. 313 Presentsmanages entertainment operations for the Ilitch-owned Comerica Park, the Fox Theatre and Little Caesars Arena, as well as the area’s Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre and Pine Knob Music Theatre.
313 Presents President Howard Handlerwill oversee about 3,000 people working the events, excluding anyone that comes with the tours, such as stagehands and promoters.
By the end of the weekend -- Josh Groban performs on Friday at Pine Knob and there is a Tigers game and a jazz concert Sunday -- the group will have hosted 36 events in 19 days, including a potential 200,000 fans this weekend, if every event is a sellout. In an era where staffing shortages continue to plague the industry, 313 Presents is in a strong position because 75% of its staff are employees of the company, and just one quarter is contracted, according to Mike Hartnett, Ilitch S&E’s VP/venue security.
Levy handles food and beverage concessions as well as backstage catering for Pine Knob, Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre, Meadow Brook and the Fox Theatre. Delaware North has those responsibilities at the ballpark and arena.From the fan side, the two concessionaires project that their combined sales -- excluding the Tigers game -- will include roughly 21,000 beers, 6,500 hard seltzers, 4,000 pretzels and 2,000 hot dogs.
Check out the full story on Saturday's crazy schedule from SBJ's David Broughton.
313 Presents has six venues hosting music acts on Saturday around southeast Michigan
Apple had been negotiating with MLS almost as soon as the league’s exclusive negotiating windows with ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision ended early last summer. But it wasn’t until around six months ago that MLS execs realized that the tech giant really was serious about completing one of the most shocking sports rights deals in history.
That was when Eddy Cue, one of the Silicon Valley company’s most influential execs, entered the picture. At a hierarchical company like Apple, the fact that one of the 12 members of the company’s leadership team had joined the negotiations sent an unmistakable signal about the seriousness of Apple’s bid.
“Apple really started to differentiate themselves and show a commitment that was at a level that was very much aligned with our vision of the product sort of late winter,” said New England Revolution investor/operator Jonathan Kraft. “And then things got focused from there.”
Check out more from SBJ'sJohn Ourand and Alex Silverman on the groundbreaking 10-year deal that shook up the entire sports media landscape as part of an Early Access look at Monday's magazine.
SBJ Publisher and Executive Editor Abe Madkour also gives his takeaways as part of the MLS-Apple deal as part of our Early Access look for Monday's magazine.
"If there was one main element that struck me after learning more about MLS’ 10-year media deal with Apple, it was its simplicity for its fans. ... I kept coming back to this focus by both parties to make the overall viewing experience better. I don’t know if that was in the minds of the deal architects when they started contemplating their media rights nearly five years ago -- but that’s what Don Garber, Gary Stevenson and Seth Bacon achieved. ...
"MLS is betting on itself. Of course, I heard from those who have concerns about certain aspects of the agreement, and that it was the one on the table MLS had to take because its window to get a deal for next year was closing. Perhaps some of that is true. And we will have to see how all this plays out. But let’s acknowledge that MLS is a first mover in going all in with the one of the world’s most ubiquitous and successful companies."
The first states to report results from May showed the expected downward trend that comes as summer approaches and the betting menu slims. Handle totals in New Jersey and Iowa both were down 17% from April while Pennsylvania ($493.4 million) and Indiana ($308.4 million) were down 14%. New York ($1.27 billion) was down 9%; Oregon ($41.7 million) down 3%.
There was an one unexpected turn, though, in New Jersey. As handle has fallen off from March to April and then to May, states all have continued to better their performance of the same month in 2021. Iowa was up 29% vs. May 2021. Indiana was up 21% against last year; Pennsylvania up 10%.
But New Jersey not only dropped when compared to last month -- its May handle was down 6% from that month last year.
While that could be taken as indication of a slowing of what has been wildfire growth in the state, a closer look reveals that it might be more specific to the betting menu. Baseball betting was up 4% to $193 million. And $1.8 million in spring football betting created something from nothing, fueled by a relaunch of the USFL.
But basketball betting -- which in May is almost entirely the NBA – was down 13%. While New Yorkers' newfound ability to wager from their couches could have played a role, It’s more likely that the home teams -- or their absence -- were to blame. The Knicks missed the playoffs this year and the Nets were swept by the Celtics in the first round. Last season, the Knicks made the playoffs and the Nets won their first-round series.
Read more on the gambling space from Bill King in the latest issue of the SBJ Betting newsletter.
NASCAR is getting closer to announcing a new Cup Series street race in Chicago that would start next year, sources tell SBJ's Adam Stern. The series has been looking to further shake up its schedule heading into media-rights talks.
NASCAR execs, including President Steve Phelps and COO Steve O’Donnell, have hinted in recent interviews that the series is working on one big change for the 2023 schedule, and that is believed to be the Chicago street race. SBJ reported in February that NASCAR remained in talks with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago Sports Commission and others on a street race.
The deal is not yet completed, but sources say there are concerted talks working toward an agreement for the race to start next year. NASCAR has already stated that the goal is to have the 2023 schedule announced by the end of the summer.
OneTeam Partners founding CEO Ahmad Nassar is leaving the company, reports SBJ's Ben Fischer. The board has tapped Senior VP Malaika Underwood, a 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, as interim CEO. The news comes as RedBird Capital Partners looks to finalize the sale of its roughly 40% stake in the NIL juggernaut, formed in 2019 in conjunction with the NFLPA and MLBPA.
Richmond RacewaynamedLori Collier Waranto be theNASCAR-owned track's new president, making her the first woman to hold the role in the history of the venue,reports SBJ'sAdam Stern. She replacesDennis Bickmeier, who stepped down earlier this year. She will start July 11.
NYXL has tapped Kai Mathey as the company’s first ever CRO, a new role for the N.Y.-based esports and entertainment brand, reports SBJ's Kevin Hitt. Mathey had been NYXL’s head of partnerships. She will oversee operations of the Call of Duty League's Major IV on July 14-17, which will be one of the biggest esports events of the year. The tournament will take place at King’s Theatre in Brooklyn. NYXL’s N.Y. Subliners team will be a part of that competition. NYXL also operates the N.Y. Excelsior of the Overwatch League.
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- Camping World’s longtime title sponsorship of NASCAR’s Truck Series expires after this year, and the future of the deal is uncertain, sources tell SBJ's Adam Stern.
- Mark Brubaker is now in his second season as Mets chief technology officer, and he's one of about 20 employees from Point72 which is Mets Owner Steve Cohen's asset management firm -- who’ve added part-time roles with the MLB club, notes SportTechie's Andrew Cohen. The additions have helped boost the club’s data operations and baseball analytics departments.
- For the first time, the USGA has committed to baseline measurement and analysis of the U.S. Open's carbon impact through third-party experts, reports SBJ's Eric Prisbell.
- Just over two years after the Brewers rebranded with a new look, the club on Friday unveiled another new uniform, this time as part of the Nike City Connect program, reports SBJ's Erik Bacharach. The Brewers are the fifth MLB club this season and 12th overall to take part in the initiative.
