NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver “sees no future for a 66-game schedule” despite the fact ratings "are up and attendance will be about the same as last season,” according to Brian Mahoney of the AP. The schedule this season was cut from 82 games to 66 due to the lockout. Silver, who spoke before the APSE yesterday, said, “If you cut the season shorter, we cut our revenues significantly as well. Players would make less, so no, and I think it’s not optimal to play a condensed season in this fashion.” The results of the condensed schedule have been "frequent compelling matchups and tight playoff races” in both conferences with a week left in the season. NBA Commissioner David Stern has called it a “barnburner of a season.” He added the “early returns are excellent” from the new CBA and that the NBA expects to “lose a little money this season but predicts a profit in 2012-13 after saying it lost hundreds of millions annually” in the old deal that was ratified in '05 (AP, 4/19). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Price & Thompson report Stern said the locations of next season’s overseas exhibition games will include Berlin, Istanbul, Barcelona, Milan, Shanghai and Beijing. The Celtics and Mavericks "are expected to play two games apiece" in Europe (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/20).
SPREAD THE WORD: In N.Y., Benjamin Hoffman reported one of the things Stern and other NBA reps “spoke most passionately about was the lack of coverage” of the WNBA by the news media. When asked if any publications adequately cover the league, WNBA President Laurel Richie said, “I’d say no, but maybe that’s just because I’m biased. But I’d say no.” Stern mentioned “many of the women’s sports leagues that had failed over the years while praising” the WNBA for lasting 16 seasons. However, he said that he was “trying to remain realistic of how long of a process it can be to convince people to accept something new” (NYTIMES.com, 4/19).
