We've seen Kobe Trump Lebron before in Popularity - i.e 08 Olympics
“Television executives will tell you publicly that they root for volume (e.g., a seven-game series) when it comes to championships. Privately, they also root for the Lakers, Patriots and Yankees. Big television markets equal big ratings, as Fox Sports president Ed Goren explained. “One of the more honest comments I’ve heard through the years from a commissioner of a sport came from David Stern,” Goren said. “Years ago he was asked who he was rooting for in the NBA Finals. His response? ‘I’d love to see the Lakers against the Lakers.’”
“Last year’s Celtics-Lakers Finals (Boston is the nation’s eighth-largest television market) drew a 9.3 rating and an average of 14.9 million viewers, the highest Finals ratings since ‘04. Those numbers are important because most of the ad rates for this year’s Finals are based on last year’s ratings, with a small percentage held for last-minute purchases. Networks can raise their ratings estimate on which they base the price of those ads. Last year ABC charged an estimated $400,000 for a 30-second ad for the Celtics-Lakers series; only a Lakers-Cavs matchup would produce similar numbers this year, according to media buyers, but even so, “As great as LeBron is, I don’t think Cleveland has a ton of traction nationally,” said one West Coast media buyer, who asked for anonymity since he deals with the networks.
Where James’ loss would really be felt is in the Cleveland area. The nation’s 17th-largest television market, with 1,533,710 television households, Cleveland does not rank among the NBA’s 15 biggest markets, but this season the Cavs had the highest local regular-season TV ratings of any NBA team in more than a decade, according to Sports Business Daily. Cavs games saw a 116 percent increase from last year while leaguewide viewership across all regional sports networks increased by eight percent this season. An average of 134,000 Cleveland-area homes tuned in for each Cavs game, according to SBJ, second only to the Lakers’ 250,000 average on Fox Sports West.”
via SI.com
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