Business of Sports May 28, 2009, 3:07PM EST

In NBA Finals, Media Partners Are Winners

Viewership is way up over 2008. So whether there's a LeBron-Kobe matchup or not, companies including Nike and ESPN should be happy

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1. NBA Finals (Almost) Set. Are Broadcasters, League Officials Content?

With the favored Cleveland Cavaliers now down 3-1 to the Orlando Magic and the weary Los Angeles Lakers edging out the "upstart" Denver Nuggets 3-2, the marquee-lit prospect of a LeBron James/Kobe Bryant-led NBA Finals series have dimmed somewhat. At least now maybe people will stop making accusations that the entire NBA Playoffs is rigged, weighted heavily by league brass and referees alike toward the NBA's most bankable stars.

They're all bankable, says Commissioner David Stern. According to the Associated Press, Stern last week "downplayed the idea" that having James in the Finals "would be a windfall for the league." Stern was quoted as saying, "You mean as opposed to Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, or Kobe Bryant? … We have nothing but stars." Added TNT analyst Ernie Johnson in the Orlando Sentinel, "The league is not trying to manufacture a final. If they were, then Boston would be playing Cleveland."

So far, the NBA's media partners have nothing to be unhappy about. TNT averaged a 3.1 cable rating (4 million viewers) for the 37 telecasts of the NBA Playoffs through the Conference Semifinals, up 10.7% from a 2.8 rating (3.5 million viewers/36 games) through the same point last year. ESPN also realized gains for Conference Semifinals coverage, averaging a 3.5 cable rating (4.6 million viewers) for six telecasts, up 9.4% from a 3.2 rating (four million viewers) for seven telecasts last season. NBA Playoffs games, according to the SportsBusiness Daily, accounted for the eight highest-rated programs on cable for the week of May 11-17.

TNT averaged 7.321 million viewers for last Wednesday's Magic-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals Game One, up 18.3% from 6.19 million viewers for the comparable Spurs-Lakers Western Conference Finals Game One in 2008. Moreover, ESPN earned a 5.8 cable rating and 8.085 million viewers for Tuesday's Nuggets-Lakers Western Conference Final Game One—producing ESPN's most-viewed basketball game ever.

While Nike (NKE) with its puppets and Coca-Cola (KO) with its frequent vitaminwater ads are still going to town on the whole LeBron-Kobe dynamic, vitaminwater has made it clear that it can slot in Magic star Dwight Howard, also an endorser of the product, should the Magic beat the Cavs. (No word on whether Nike has a Howard puppet in production, draped in a Superman cape.) According to a recent ESPN poll of fans' favorite NBA players, however, Howard is not quite yet playing in the Bryant-James stratosphere: Bryant got the "favorite player" nod from 8.2% of fans polled, followed by James at 6.1%, Suns' Shaquille O'Neal at 2.9%, Celtics' Kevin Garnett at 2.4%, and the Spurs' Tim Duncan at 2.3%. Howard was further down the page.

2. When Books Tackle Sports: Book Expo America 2009

While books about sports don't exactly dominate the racks at Barnes & Noble (BN) and Borders (BGP), the top-selling titles in the genre continue to make a splash, as they will this weekend at Book Expo America, the largest book industry event in North America and one of the biggest gatherings of English-language publishers in the world.

A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez by New York Times sportswriter Selena Roberts and The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci have dominated recent headlines. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall is currently the top-selling sports title on Amazon.com and No. 63 on the site's top 100 best-seller list. What's more, athletes continue to enjoy healthy advances.