NBA's most-watched game of week finishes behind golf, NASCAR, wrestling
The NBA's most-watched game last week didn't fare as well as the most-watched in golf, NASCAR or the WWE, but did beat out those in the MLB and NHL, according to the Nielsen ratings.
The Aug. 3 game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz on ESPN was the NBA's highest rated of the week, drawing 1.62 million viewers.
By comparison, the PGA Championships on CBS drew 5.15 million viewers for the week's highest-rated sports program.
The NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway finished second (NBCSN, 2.37 million), with WWE's Friday Night Smackdown (FOX, 1.96 million) came in third.
FOX's MLB games between the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals, and Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks, placed just behind the Lakers-Jazz game with an average of 1.49 million viewers.
The NHL's Philadelphia Flyers-Tampa Bay Lightning game on NBC drew 1.2 million viewers.
The NBA is still play seeding games ahead of the playoffs, with ESPN and TNT handling the national broadcasts.
Given that television viewing is typically down across the board in August (and that the NBA has never before conducted a season in August) and scheduling many of its games during weekday afternoons, the overall TV ratings are about on par with what the league expected.
