Indianapolis and Oklahoma City will try to overcome the historic link between market size and ratings in squaring off for the NBA title
In the world of TV markets and sports ratings, the expression “Bigger is better” usually applies. Yet after a pretty thrilling round of playoffs, the NBA Finals — a showdown between teams representing two of the smallest cities in the league — will put that assumption to the test.
Tipping off Thursday, the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder both bring young superstars to the party, including recently anointed league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But they also hail from Indianapolis and Oklahoma City, which rank No. 25 and 47, respectively, out of the more than 200 individually measured designated market areas (or DMAs) in the U.S., placing them among the bottom seven of the NBA’s 30 teams. (Top-ranked New York, whose Knicks were just bounced from the playoffs, boasts a pair of franchises, as does No. 2 market Los Angeles.)
Historically, major sporting events benefit from having larger-market teams squaring off, cashing in on the rooting interest in the home cities to boost tune-in.
Among the most recent examples, last year’s World Series, pitting the New York Yankees against the L.A. Dodgers, delivered an average 15.8 million viewers, per Nielsen, Major League Baseball’s most-watched Fall Classic since 2017, despite running only five games.
That marked a 67% increase over 2023, the lowest-rated World Series ever, in which the Texas Rangers (considered part of the No. 4 Dallas-Fort Worth DMA) defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks (a.k.a. Phoenix, No. 12).
Last year’s NBA Finals, with the Boston Celtics edging the Dallas Mavericks, averaged 11.
