"Monday Night Football" vs. Game 7 of the NBA Finals
If the NBA season resumes as reported, game 7 of the Finals would take place on October 12th. That same day the New Orleans Saints are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football. SI media columnist joined host Robin Lundberg to discuss the hypothetical choice sports fans might have in the Fall, when hopefully both basketball and football are back in action in today's edition of "Traina Thoughts".
Read Full video transcript below:
Robin Lundberg: Obviously, there are no sports right now and there are far more important things than sports in the world. But when sports eventually do return, there could be a dilemma for fans come October. For more, I'm joined by our Jimmy Traina. And Jimmy, the way that the NBA schedule is laid out: game seven of the NBA finals could take place on October 12th, which would put it head to head against the Chargers and the Saints in the NFL. To me, that's not much of a choice. I'm going NBA. But you'd be interested to see the results.
Jimmy Traina: Well, I listen, the NBA would win that matchup, and this is all, you know, hypothetical discussion because you'd need the NBA to go seven games. And as I wrote in the column, most fans now know how to get two screens going. So everyone will watch both, for the most part. But I think the way you said that, you're almost underestimating the power of the NFL here. The ratings from that football. Not great. Not outstanding. But I think this is more about how much Monday Night Football would take a chunk of the ratings away from the NBA finals. As I wrote, you get LeBron James and the Lakers in the finals. I think the ratings there would be hard to knock down. But if it's another team, I wouldn't underestimate the power of the NFL taking a good chunk of that audience away on a Monday night when you have so many people who play fantasy football watching. And obviously, it's a huge betting night as well.
Robin Lundberg: Yeah, no, I mean, personally, it's not much of a choice, but I have always said that the NFL might be the single most popular thing in this country. So, you know, we've seen the World Series against the NFL games and the results.
Jimmy Traina: Yeah. World Series little different here. If you get game seven, NBA Finals, LeBron James. Now, listen, you can depending on your level of like how much of a diehard NBA fan you are and you could conceivably blow off the first half of the basketball game. Watch the football game and then get back to the last quarter of the NBA game. And you're not really, you know, missing out on a hell of a lot.
Robin Lundberg: Though, I mean, I only counter I have to at the Chargers. Do people care about the charge?
Jimmy Traina: Well, yeah. You make a good point. This would be more more interesting if this was, you know, Bucs-Saints or something like that, without a doubt. But again, you know, the power of the NFL is people watch no matter who's playing. It seems like even times Jaguars on a Thursday night.
Robin Lundberg: No doubt about it. Jimmy, appreciate your time, as always.
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