Chicago Bulls fans obviously wanted a Game 7 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
So did TV’s alphabet sports troika — NBA, ESPN and TNT. The ongoing popularity of the second-round playoff series would have meant more viewers — and eventually more advertising revenue.
Audience ratings figures:
• Game 6 in Chicago, aired Thursday on ESPN, averaged 6.4 million viewers, second only to Game 4 (May 3, viewed by 6.9 million).
• Game 6 was up 24 percent over the Indiana-Washington second-round Eastern Conference contest in 2014.
• Four of the five most-watched NBA playoff games this season featured the Bulls and Cavaliers.
• The six games were the most-watched second-round playoff contests since 2012.
The driving force behind this audience rating surge is, of course, LeBron James, who will lead Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals against the Atlanta Hawks on TNT.
This is James’ fifth consecutive appearance in the East finals. His strong season-long performance has taken a team that went 33-49 in the 2013-14 season to the conference finals.
The Miami Heat? James’ former team finished 37-45 this season and missed the playoffs.
Charles Barkley recently said it best: “Television needs LeBron James in the championship finals.”
Ice Age returns. NHL playoff audience figures on NBCSN are slightly ahead of last year’s, highlighted by the Rangers’ win in a widely watched Game 7 battle against the Capitals, which produced the second-largest second-round audience ever on cable’s NHL coverage.
As one New York sports columnist noted: “Who needs the Knicks? We’ve got the Rangers!”
Alumni report. Often overlooked in the ongoing coverage of Deflategate is a local angle.
The initial story was broken by Bob Kravitz, a writer-reporter for WTHR-TV in Indianapolis. He was a sports columnist at the Rocky Mountain News from 1990-2000.
His first report came shortly after the Patriots beat the Colts in the AFC championship game.
Kravitz left Denver to become a sports columnist at The Indianapolis Star. He was there until 2014, when he moved into tele- vision work.
Kravitz, in recent e-mails, Facebook and Twitter coverage, has recalled the ongoing criticism — and sometimes oral abuse — he and his family have received from Patriots fans.
Also, Kravitz has been in a constant battle with the Boston media and Patriots management — a battle intensified by the release of the Wells report and the team’s punishment by the NFL.
Bound for Big Apple. After 15 years of being based at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., the “Mike and Mike in the Morning” show will move to New York on Feb. 8, after Super Bowl 50. The move is being made to give Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic more access to the worlds of sports and pop culture in a big-city environment.
The popular weekday series, aired in Denver on 105.5 FM (5-10 a.m.) and also on ESPN2, will emanate from ABC’s Times Square Broadcasting Center, thus giving the duo more access to the talent and guests on “Good Morning America.”
ESPN noted that during studio breaks, ESPN2 cameras will focus on the sights and sounds of Manhattan, which should have more appeal than downtown Bristol.
Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Contact him at tvtime@ .
HBO putting spotlight on Ronda Rousey
Is there a more dominant athlete now than NBA star LeBron James?
“Business Insider” recently selected Ronda Rousey as No. 1, ahead of James.
Adding to her star power is her cover appearance in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated.
You can learn more about the 28-year-old Rousey in the HBO series “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (8 p.m. Tuesday). She discusses her huge success in mixed martial arts, along with a budding movie career and an upcoming autobiography.
