The NBA is in discussions with ABC to put additional early round postseason games on the network this season after last year’s Finals coverage generated strong ratings, NBA Commissioner David Stern said last week.
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| Stern |
“We learned a lot about promotion of the NBA during the Finals,” Stern said. “The promotion needs to be directed to a broader audience on ABC. This year, ABC has raised the issue of moving an earlier game or two to ABC, and that is what we are working on right now.”
Stern’s comments were part of a wide-ranging discussion with SportsBusiness Journal on the league’s offseason business activities. Joined by NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik and NBA Entertainment President Adam Silver, Stern also spoke of the league’s collective-bargaining negotiations, the search for new sponsors and plans for next month’s preseason games in China.
Last season, ABC broadcast six playoff games as well as the entire five-game NBA Finals. The Finals generated an average 11.5 rating compared with a 6.5 rating the year before, helped by a Los Angeles-Detroit matchup compared with San Antonio-New Jersey in 2003. The league and ABC helped push ratings with a joint “Destination Finals” ad campaign.
NBA and ABC officials had projected for advertisers an average 9.5 rating for the Finals prior to the start of the series.
Some team officials, early in the playoffs, expressed frustration over a perceived lack of promotion of the NBA by ABC during the league’s regular season. Frustration was also expressed over ABC’s prime-time programming lineup, which ranked last in ratings among the big four networks. League officials firmly backed the partnership, though, as did ABC representatives.
Tag Garson, director of programming and acquisitions for ABC Sports, said last week the network does want to add more games. Any addition likely would include more first-round games. Last season’s schedule featured two first-round games and four second-round games. The conference finals aired exclusively on cable partners ESPN and TNT.
“I think you can have just as much drama in a seven-game first-round series,” Garson said.
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| Possible overseas expansion and plans for the NBDL remain on Stern’s plate. |
As for sponsorships at the league, the NBA is in “extended discussions,” Stern said, to add a car maker to its roster of official partners. Any league deal would co-exist with teams’ local auto sponsorship agreements.
League officials expect to attract heavy activation from sponsors around the planned Premiere Week promotional campaign, designed to drive interest in the early part of the season. The NBA also is counting on its new Rivalry Week plan to push ticket sales.
“In the enormous clutter that is the network and sports environment, having a little extra thematic is a good thing, but not too much,” Stern said.
League officials also face the expiration of the collective-bargaining agreement at the end of the coming season. Granik would not disclose the nature of the talks to date between the league and the National Basketball Players Association, but he expects negotiations to continue throughout the season, something NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter said in June would not occur.
“I don’t buy that you can’t talk during the season,” Granik said.
One of the issues on the bargaining table is Stern’s continued interest in affiliating teams in the NBA-owned National Basketball Development League with NBA teams. His long-range plan is to expand the league to have teams in the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest. For the 2005-06 season, Stern said the league plans to change the NBDL name to the NBA Development League.
“It was expensive to launch and we need to do a better job of selling tickets,” he said.
The NBA has never disclosed any financial information regarding the NBDL. Last year, the league averaged 1,667 fans per game for six clubs across the Southeast.
More immediately, the NBA is preparing for the upcoming China Games. There is a lot riding on the success of the two preseason games between the Sacramento Kings and the Yao Ming-led Houston Rockets, scheduled for Shanghai on Oct. 15 and Beijing on Oct. 17, considering the interest of the league in expanding its international footprint.
Stern is still considering overseas expansion and is planning on making the China Games more than a one-time deal.
“We see the same opportunities that every other major entertainment and consumer goods company see in China,” Stern said.
