NBA Finals Viewership Down by 45%, Lowest Since 1994

{snip}

Instead of posting the good, if not great numbers that the NBA should have drawn for a Game 1 Finals clash including with millions at home on lockdown and LeBron James on the floor, the NBA saw a catastrophic drop in both ratings and viewership.

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

The opening game of the series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat brought 7.41 million viewers to ABC, the smallest audience for the finals since at least 1994, when total viewers began to be regularly recorded. The previous low was 8.06 million for Game 3 of the 2007 NBA Finals.

The game, which took place about four months later than the usual start date for the NBA Finals, was down by about 45 percent in total viewers vs. the U.S. audience for last year’s finals opener between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors. {snip}

{snip} Since the league restarted its season with a full embrace of social justice activism, the NBA has suffered huge drops in numbers. {snip}

{snip}

In early September, a Harris poll found that most fans were watching fewer games because the NBA had become “too political.”