NHL League Revenue Reaches Record Level
The Biz of Hockey :: The Business of Sports Network —
The good news keeps coming for the NHL. On the heels of the best postseason television ratings in years, and a regular season with record-setting attendance and improved television ratings, league revenue reached an all-time high of $2.56 billion. As reported by Terry Lefton in Sports Business Journal: It has its best U.S. postseason ratings story in years and record regular-season attendance has been followed by an unprecedented sellout of every playoff game. Revenue at NHL Enterprises, the league’s business arm, is up 40 percent, licensed merchandise sales have increased 15 percent. Overall, total league revenue is at a ...
Game 2 of Stanley Cup Finals Highest Rated Program Ever for VERSUS
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VERSUS, the exclusive cable home of the NHL in the U.S., garnered a 1.9 national rating and 2,537,560 total viewers for its Game 2 telecast of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final Monday, making it the most-watched program in network history. Other highlights: * Game 2 eclipsed Game 1 of this year’s Final (1.8 rating, 2,351,582 total viewers) as the highest-rated and most-watched Stanley Cup Final cable telecast since 2002. Further, the combined ratings for Games 1 and 2 show an increase of 111 percent from 2006 (.9) and a 171-percent increase from last year’s first two games (.7). The combined viewership for ...
TNT's Coverage of Game 4 of Western Conference Finals Yields Highest Rated Basketball Game of the Year on Cable
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TNT delivered a slam dunk with its exclusive coverage of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, the most watched and highest rated NBA game on cable this year and the second most watched telecast of the year -- trailing only ABC’s telecast of Game 7 of the Cleveland Cavaliers/Boston Celtics second round series on May 18. The game featuring the Los Angeles Lakers @ San Antonio Spurs yielded a 4.8 US rating (5,394,000 households), a 49-percent increase over the network’s telecast of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals last year. ...
May 12 Earthquake Causes China to Pull Plug on NBA Playoffs
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Entertainment programs, including the NBA playoffs, were suspended from China television during a three-day mourning period last week for victims of the 7.9 earthquake that devastated China on May 12. Following the three-day grieving period, the national broadcaster CCTV aired Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. However, no NBA playoff games have been televised since. As reported by the AP: “We have followed orders and stopped the NBA broadcast,” Jiang Heping, director for CCTV’s sport channel, said in Wednesday editions of the Shanghai-based ...
Starting Next Season, NBA to Impose Fines on Players who Flop
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The NBA will begin imposing fines on players who intentionally “flop”, beginning in the 2009-2010 season. Representatives from the league have yet to determine how they will deal with players that are repeat offenders of the intentional flops, or how much fines will be. The new rule, as well as several others, came about as part of the NBA’s competition meeting in Orlando on Wednesday. As reported by ESPN: NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson confirmed the new policy Wednesday night saying: "What was clearly expressed to the committee is that we would begin imposing fines next season ...
Outdoor Classic, Wrigley Field Style: Red Wings to Play Blackhawks Next Year
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Comcast SportsNet reported last night that the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks will play this coming January at Wrigley Field in a continuation of the NHL’s outdoor Winter Classic. According the report, the announcement could come as early as this week. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times: Hawks president John McDonough has been pushing for an outdoor game after the success of this season's Winter Classic on New Year's Day at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium. A league-record 71,217 fans saw the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Sabres 2-1 in a shootout. Yankee Stadium had been seen as a likely ...
Collins Listed as Landing Bulls Coaching Position. Releases Statement Saying No Agreement Yet
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Several media outlets in the Chicago area are reporting that current TNT color analyst and former Bulls coach will wind up going back to the Chicago Bulls next season as ther new coach. As reported by ESPN: Earlier this month, when linked to the Phoenix Suns' opening, Collins emphatically told ESPN.com that he had "no interest" in coaching again. Yet it appears that Collins' close relationships with Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and owner Jerry Reinsdorf have led to an abrupt change of heart, enabling Chicago to continue its dramatic recovery from the disappointment of losing out to the New York ...
Stanley Cup Finals: NBC Sees Huge Increase in Ratings From Last Year's Game 3
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The NHL on NBA scored a huge increase in ratings for Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals compared to last year's Game Three between Ducks and Senators. With the talent ladened Red Wings and Penguins, with Sidney Crosby, NBC saw a 2.8/5 overnight Nielsen rating compared to 1.5/3 for last year's Game Three, an increase of 86.7%. NBC had the advantage of airing the game this year in primetime on a Saturday. According to the Sports Business Daily, "In Detroit, the game earned a 18.2/28 up against Pistons-Celtics Game Five on ESPN, which earned a 15.9 rating locally. The 2.9/5 marks the highest Stanley Cup Finals Game Three overnight ...
The NBA Gets Exceptionally High Marks for Diversity
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The NBA received the first overall "A" among men's sports teams, according to a report issued Thursday by Richard Lapchick, the head of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The rating was fueled by the NBA having seven black top executives among its 30 teams during the 2007-08 season, which ranked them with the highest percentage of minority presidents and CEOs in men's professional sports history. As reported by The AP: There were 12 black head coaches in the NBA last season. At 40 percent, it's the highest in all pro sports. A league-record 42 percent of assistant coaches were ...
ESPN, TNT Continue Ratings Increase During Conference Finals
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ESPN and TNT have both seen a significant increase in viewership during their coverage of the NBA Playoffs this season, specifically in the Conference Finals. As reported by Sports Media Watch: Eight of the ten most watched programs on cable for the month of May (April 28-May 25) were NBA Playoff games. The most watched program of the month was Game 7 of the Spurs/Hornets series, which drew 6.5 million viewers. TNT won the month of May in prime time, and saw its ratings increase 10% from last year. ESPN finished fourth, with ratings up 25%. The final two games of the Western Conference Finals ...
Ron Artest Plans to Interview Brawl Instigator
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Sacramento Kings’ forward Ron Artest has recently created his own personal segment on KHTK, a local radio station in Sacramento. He calls it “Radio Ron-Ron”, and uses this platform to discuss any and all hot topics. He tested his interview skills with Kings’ center Spencer Hawes last week, and is scheduled to interview ESPN’s Marc Stein next week. After that, he plans to interview John Green – the Detroit fan who threw a cup of beer at Artest during the “Malice at the Palace” brawl in 2004. As reported by the Sacramento Bee: Apparently, Green has already been tracked down and appears to be on board with ...
'80s Flashback: Celtics Beat Pistons, Will Meet Lakers in Finals
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Paul Pierce scored a very efficient 27 points (shooting 8-12 from the field and 10-13 from the free throw line) as the Boston Celtics rallied from a 70-60 fourth quarter deficit to beat the Detroit Pistons 89-81 in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics will face the L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals in a matchup of the two most storied franchises in league history. Ray Allen added 17 points and six rebounds; he did most of his damage in the first quarter but in these tight, defensive struggles every point counts. Kevin Garnett got off to a woeful start, making just 2 of his first 10 field goal attempts, but he anchored Boston's defense ...
Joe Axelson, Former NBA Exec That Helped Move Kings, Dead at Age 80
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Joe Axelson, the former front office executive and general manager, first for the Cincinnati Royals, and then remained with the franchise when it moved to Kansas City-Omaha, where they became the Kings, and then traveled to the West Coast to Sacramento, has died at the age of 80. Cause of death has not yet been determined. As reported by The AP: Over his career with the Royals-Kings franchise, he was responsible for some controversial trades, including swapping Oscar Robertson to Milwaukee in 1970 after Robertson squabbled with coach Bob Cousy and asked to leave Cincinnati. The Royals had ...
TNT's NBA Playoff Coverage Sees 14% Increase From Year Prior
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Turner Network Television (TNT) claimed victory with its 2008 NBA Playoffs coverage which featured 41 games in 40 nights that averaged a 2.6 US rating (2,943,000 households), up 14 percent in average total viewers (3,801,000) over the 43 games the year prior. ...
Ad Sales May Increase for NBA Finals on ABC
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Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC and ESPN, may boost ad sales from their broadcast of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, according to a UBS Securities LLC analyst. As reported by the Bloomberg News: Playoff ratings this season are 31 percent higher than last year on ABC and 28 percent higher on ESPN, analyst Michael Morris wrote today in a report. Ratings gains will bolster ESPN, which gets the ad sales, ABC and its Los Angeles station KABC, he wrote. The four most recent finals featuring the Lakers had an average 11.4 rating, almost double that of the 2007 finals between the San ...
