Despite the lockout NBA TV ratings up

What NBA lockout? So much for the theory that the lockout would lose and cause fans interest to go away. Yes, fans were frustrated with the lockout but they are still showing they care about the NBA.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Times they have the numbers to back up TV ratings and attendance is up so far this NBA season.

The five Christmas Day openers produced healthy ratings on TNT, ABC and ESPN, as ABC drew 11 million viewers for the Lakers-Chicago Bulls game, its third-largest NBA audience ever. TNT’s average of 5.9 million viewers for the Boston Celtics-New York Knicks game made that the most-viewed NBA Christmas Day game on cable.

In addition, 25 of the first 32 games were sellouts, up from 19 of the first 32 last season. Chris Granger, the NBA’s executive vice president for team marketing and business operations, said fan-friendly initiatives helped teams play to 99.2% of capacity over the first 32 games, up from 90.3% for the full 2010-11 season.

This is the beginning of the season, so let’s see if these numbers hold up through the season. Of course people will be excited about the NBA right now, but will they pay attention in the middle of February? Everyone wants to see how the big free agent signing is playing or the top draft pick.

Another thing helping these ratings is that a lot of the top teams are playing so early in the season.

What will the TV rankings and attendance be at the end of the season in April? I do think an 82 game schedule is too long so the shorten 66 game schedule will help in this matter.

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Tags: NBA, NBA tv ratings