NBC Sports' coverage of last weekend's four NBA playoff
games averaged a 7.5/16 overnight Nielsen rating, up 1% from
last year's 7.4/15 rating for the corresponding four playoff
games. Friday's coverage of Game Three of the Lakers-
Blazers series earned an 8.7/16 overnight, up 28% from last
year's comparable Spurs-Blazers Game Three, which earned a
6.8/12. Sunday's coverage of Game Four of the Lakers-
Blazers series earned a 7.8/18, down 1.2% from last year's
comparable Game Four of the Spurs-Blazers series, which
earned a 7.9/15 (NBC). Meanwhile Turner's 38-game playoff
coverage on TNT and TBS "averaged a 2.8 rating, down 7% from
last year's 3.0 for 36 contests" (DAILY VARIETY, 5/31).
AT INDY: ABC's coverage of the rain-delayed Indy 500
earned a 5.4/13 Nielsen overnight, up 8% from last year's
5.0/15 (THE DAILY). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich wrote that
ABC's Indy 500 coverage "was, as usual, flawless." Zelkovich
noted the "ties between networks and events," as the
ceremonial starter for Sunday's race "was none other than
[ABC Sports President] Howard Katz" (TORONTO STAR, 5/29).
WNBA: NBC's coverage of the Liberty-Comets WNBA season
opener Monday earned a 2.4/6 overnight, up 14% from last
year's Mystics-Comets season opener rating of a 2.1/6 (NBC).
SUNDAY'S GEM ON ESPN: Sunday night's Red Sox-Yankees
game on ESPN averaged a 14.4 local rating in Boston, making
it ESPN's highest-rated regular-season MLB game in the
Boston area since '95 (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/31). While national
ratings were not yet available, ESPN spokesperson Mike
Soltys estimated the net's national rating for Sunday's game
"could be our best baseball rating since [Cardinals 1B] Mark
McGwire's 61st homer on Labor Day weekend, 1998." Fox's
opening-weekend of MLB on Saturday, which included Red Sox-
Yankees to 77% of the U.S., drew "only a 3.2," down from
last year's 4.0 inter-league game (BOSTON HERALD, 5/31).
