billybudd
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2012
- 22,049
- 2,249
I know the Pittsburgh perspective of this, but the fans of hockey here don't realize that when the Pens aren't playing, nba games here routinely decimate nhl games... the last Nhl cup final the pens didn't make, the NBA crushed in ratings... even last year the nba had grest ratings in the off days : NBA finals top Pittsburgh ratings, when we're not watching the Pens
There is a huge nba following here.. and basketball is way more widespread in high school... the westerm pa area is larger than several 4 sport areas... its going to happen sooner or later...
Everything I've bolded is not accurate. The NBA playoffs got killed by both the NHL playoffs and a Pirates losing streak in 2015 in this market. 2015 is the last year the Penguins didn't make the finals.
Your own article specifies that the highest-rated NBA playoff series ever drew "about half as many viewers (per capita) as the national average" and theorized the only reason it won its time slot was because the only new programs it was head-to-head against were a spelling bee and a $60 pay-per-view event. As an aside, "half the national average" very likely puts Pittsburgh at the bottom of the 50 biggest US markets, if not dead last. All the positive stuff about engagement or the NBA "wholloping" the NHL is entirely in reference to out of market activity.
This isn't indicative of a "huge nba following" in Pittsburgh. It's indicative of the NBA being so invisible in Pittsburgh that you need to scrub every single channel of programming for the most high-profile finals in memory, featuring the most high-profile player in the sport's history, to be able to win a time slot at all.