NBA and NHL playoffs clash for viewers
By Aaron Juarez
Rarely in life do people get to have it both ways. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can have one or the other. Take it or leave it. That is, excluding spring sports.
Every spring sports fans are spared from having to make a choice and may instead choose to savor the best of the two worlds of hockey and basketball. From early April extending into June, the NHL and NBA playoffs rage full tilt, offering a savage new style of play as teams fight to stave off elimination.
Nowhere else on the American sports calendar do two major sports reach their respective climactic finishes in such close proximity to one another. Yet strangely, instead of embracing this unique chance to follow two sports down the home stretch, numbers show that sports fans around the nation are making a clear choice to focus more on the NBA playoffs.
The all-important Nielsen television ratings show that ratings for the NBA playoff games are triple those of the NHL playoffs. Oddly enough, with the exception of TNT airing nearly all Western Conference NBA playoff games, the rest of the NBA and NHL playoffs are televised by ABC and ESPN.
The most recent Nielsen numbers showcased the week of May 5-11. Of all sporting events televised on network television, the top program was Game 4 of the Lakers-Spurs Western Conference semi-finals on ABC, a Sunday afternoon game which drew a national rating of 5.7, meaning that 5.7 percent of households with televisions in the United States were tuned into Game 4.
By comparison, ABC's Game 1 afternoon broadcast of the NHL's Mighty Ducks-Wild Western Conference Finals finished fifth for the week with a 1.6 rating, behind WWE Smackdown! and the CBS weekend golf coverage of the Wachovia Championship.
In the cable ratings, TNT's coverage of the first three games of the Spurs-Lakers series occupied the top three spots.
"I like the [studio analysts] on TNT, like Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith," said junior Bryan Kretzmer. "I think they do a good job, and I just understand basketball more than hockey so it's easier for me to relate."
Understanding of the game is another key factor in the choice between hockey and basketball. Hockey did not begin to catch on in California until Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988. Since that time the NHL added expansion teams in San Jose and Anaheim, but casual fans seem to rather follow the more established Lakers, Warriors and Kings of the NBA.
"I'm not really into the NHL scene too much," said junior Colin Harter, "[being from] California, and hockey's not too big here. Hockey on TV is just slow, I don't really understand the game so I don't follow what's going on."
Junior Jennifer Ortelle agrees.
"I was brought up around here, and people don't play too much hockey in California, plus I played basketball so I'm a lot more interested in that."
One major factor as to why many fans choose to follow the NBA playoffs can be attributed to the image of the league and the players themselves. With incomparable talent and (in many cases) endorsement deals which further their superstar status, players such as Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady have transcended their peers to the point where they are more popular than even their own teams.
"I love basketball regardless of who plays," explained Kretzmer. "But I think for the common person it's a lot easier to identify with Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Shaq or Kobe than it is for the NHL players where it's like 'OK, who are the good players?'"
Since Gretzky's retirement in 1999, the NHL has lacked a player who would take up the superstar role and serve as an ambassador for the sport. Without a charismatic player to make casual fans stand up and take notice of the NHL, the league will find it ever more difficult to sell the sport to younger fans.
Thirty seven-year old Mario Lemieux is the closest thing to a superstar left in the game, but with his impending retirement drawing ever closer, the NHL needs its younger stars such as Anaheim's Paul Kariya, Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier, and Boston's Joe Thornton to step up and fill the void.
Despite the low interest in hockey, there are some sports fans that prefer watching the NHL playoffs.
"I feel it's more exciting, there's more intense action [in hockey]," said senior Michael MacLaren. "The few goals that are scored are intense."
Nevertheless, the Nielsen's seem to speak loudest regarding the advantage in popularity enjoyed by the NBA over the NHL. Last season's Lakers-Nets NBA Finals averaged a 10.2 rating over the four games, while the NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Red Wings and Hurricanes averaged only a 3.6 rating over five games.
And with the potential match-up of the Mighty Ducks and either the New Jersey Devils or the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL seems headed once again into the second-fiddle role in the playoff scene.