The NBA opened its 2005-06 season with a controversial new player dress code and closed it with an executive overhaul in its league office, but sandwiched between the changes was what’s become a constant: an increase in attendance.
Average attendance for the league was a best-ever 17,548 per game this year, topping last season’s previous record of 17,315 by 1.3 percent and marking the third consecutive season increase, according to figures compiled by SportsBusiness Journal. Total attendance increased to 21.6 million from 21.3 million.
That continued growth at the gate, however, isn’t mirrored on television. Ratings were flat on TNT and ESPN and down on ABC.
The Detroit Pistons led the league in attendance for the fourth consecutive season, drawing 22,076 per game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Atlanta Hawks ranked last, drawing 15,026 per game, though the team saw a 5 percent increase over last season.
The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets saw the biggest gate increase with a 28 percent jump to an average of 18,169 per game, with the team playing all but three games at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. The biggest percentage decline was seen by the Portland Trail Blazers. The beleaguered franchise looking to be sold by owner Paul Allen saw its gate fall by 9.3 percent to 15,049 fans per game.
Overall, the league’s teams played to 91 percent of their arenas’ capacities.
“We have emerging young stars and the game is driving the interest,” said Scott O’Neil, NBA senior vice president of marketing and team business operations. “Part two is that our teams have put a lot more resources into retention and we are growing our full-season ticket base. Nearly two-thirds of our teams now have dedicated service representatives, and teams are better at leveraging technology and creating new inventory.”
Industry experts predict a continued uptick in attendance.
“The NBA is very good at sharing best practices among their teams, and the game-day experience is being enhanced,” said David Grant, principal of Velocity Sports & Entertainment and a former NBA league executive. “I don’t see a giant leap [in attendance] but I see slow and steady growth as a good business.”
On the television side, ratings for the NBA on ABC were down 4 percent, with the network’s broadcasts averaging a 2.2 rating compared to a 2.3 last year. The 2.2 regular-season mark is the lowest in ABC’s four seasons of broadcasting the NBA on Sunday afternoons.
“The NBA isn’t terribly different from all other sports and prime-time ratings,” Grant said, assessing the final numbers. “There are so many other sources of entertainment.”
ABC this season increased its number of NBA broadcast windows to 20 from 18. Network officials said they are satisfied with a more consistent rating throughout the year compared with last year.
“It’s a work in progress and we are trying to create new [viewing] habits for the regular Sunday afternoon viewer, ” said Len DeLuca, senior vice president of programming for ABC Sports and ESPN. “Next year, we plan to have much more late Sunday afternoon broadcasts, and we will have some advantages because we don’t have golf next year.”
The NBA on ESPN generated a 1.2 cable rating this year and a 0.6 rating on ESPN2, the same ratings as last season (see chart).
“That 1.2 rating is solid for us, and we are doing it with coexisting broadcasts,” DeLuca said, referring to ESPN’s non-exclusive agreement with the NBA that allows for local broadcasts of other NBA games in the same market.
Ratings on TNT, which has the exclusive rights to NBA broadcasts on Thursday evenings, averaged a 1.3, the same as last season.
“This year had a more balanced schedule compared to last year, where we had more fluctuations between highly rated and lower-rated games during the season,” said Turner Sports President David Levy.
The league saw a jump in its sponsorship business this season. The NBA lost American Express as a corporate partner before the start of the season, but the league recently announced an 11-year, $400 million deal with Adidas to replaced Reebok as its official uniform supplier. The league also announced a multiyear deal with Haier, China’s largest manufacturer of appliances and high-definition televisions. The deal makes the company the NBA’s official high-definition partner in the United States and includes a cobranded advertising campaign in China.
Other deals include an agreement with T-Mobile and an extension with Federal Express. The league also signed a deal with EA Sports that elevated what was a licensee agreement to a league sponsor partnership.
Without citing specific figures, NBA Commissioner David Stern said sponsorship revenue for the year was up significantly, especially from international markets.
“We’re seeing an interesting dynamic where domestic sponsors like FedEx, Coke and McDonald’s are using us to focus their international businesses, while foreign companies like Adidas and Haier are using our strength here to help their U.S. marketing,” he said.
This year also brought a changing of the guard in NBA merchandise sales, with Miami Heat all-star Dwyane Wade supplanting teammate Shaquille O’Neal as the league’s top jersey seller through early April (see chart). Wade jumped to the top spot from the No. 9 ranking last year. The Los Angeles Lakers ranked first in team merchandise sales, the same as last season. The NBA does not disclose total merchandise sales, but officials said sales were trending toward a 7 percent increase from last year.
League highs and lows
| Biggest gain at the gate |
| New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets | 27.8% |
| Charlotte Bobcats | 13.4% |
| New Jersey Nets | 11.8% |
| |
| Biggest drop at the gate |
| Portland Trail Blazers | -9.3% |
| Philadelphia 76ers | -7.6% |
| Memphis Grizzlies | -6.3% |
| |
| Top-rated games on television* |
| Network | Rating | Date | Teams |
| ABC | 4.8 | Dec. 25 | Lakers-Heat |
| TNT | 2.3 | Jan. 16 | Heat-Lakers |
| ESPN | 1.9 | Jan. 29 | Lakers-Pistons |
| ESPN2 | 1.2 | Jan 13 | Celtics-76ers |
| * By networkSources: SportsBusiness Journal, the networks |
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Top 2005-06 NBA team merchandise and player jersey sales
| Top 10 team merchandise sales (2004-05 season) |
| 1. Los Angeles Lakers (1) |
| 2. New York Knicks (2) |
| 3. Miami Heat (4) |
| 4. Philadelphia 76ers (5) |
| 5. Chicago Bulls (3) |
| 6. Boston Celtics (7) |
| 7. Detroit Pistons (*) |
| 8. Cleveland Cavaliers (6) |
| 9. San Antonio Spurs (*) |
| 10. New Jersey Nets (10) |
| |
| Top 10 player jersey sales (2004-05 season) |
| 1. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat (9) |
| 2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers (3) |
| 3. Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers (6) |
| 4. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers (5) |
| 5. Stephon Marbury, New York Knicks (4) |
| 6. Shaquille O'Neal, Miami Heat (1) |
| 7. Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets (2) |
| 8. Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets (7) |
| 9. Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets (8) |
| 10. Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons (12) |
* Not listed in 2004-05 rankings. Rankings based on total dollar sales, not units.
Source: NBA, compiled from sales at the NBA Store in New York and on NBAStore.com through April 8
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NBA on TV
Average ratings, and the number of games televised, during the first four years of the NBA’s current six-year deals with ABC, ESPN and TNT.
| Network | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| ABC | 2.6 (14) | 2.4 (18) | 2.3 (18) | 2.2 (20) |
| ESPN | 1.2 (69) | 1.3 (64) | 1.2 (66) | 1.2 (65) |
| TNT | 1.2 (54) | 1.4 (53) | 1.3 (53) | 1.3 (52) |
| ESPN2 | 0.7 (22) | 0.6 (21) | 0.6 (18) | 0.6 (21) |
Source: The networks
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