{"id":32602,"date":"2025-06-10T12:46:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T11:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=32602"},"modified":"2025-07-05T23:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T22:04:38","slug":"adam-silver-shrugs-off-ratings-talk-ahead-of-small-market-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/adam-silver-shrugs-off-ratings-talk-ahead-of-small-market-nba-finals\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Silver Shrugs Off Ratings Talk Ahead of Small-Market NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the 2025 NBA Finals featuring two small-market teams; the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, it was inevitable NBA Commissioner Adam Silver<\/strong> would face questions about TV ratings and market size. But as he made clear Thursday, he\u2019s tired of the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt frustrates me that the first thing [fans] say is, how are the ratings? What are the ratings going to be?
\n
As opposed to, wow, you have two incredible conference finals,\u201d Silver said during his annual Finals<\/a> news conference, about an hour before Game 1 tipped off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver pushed back on the narrative that market size still heavily dictates success, citing how technology and global reach have leveled the playing field for smaller teams.
\n
He emphasized that the league\u2019s $76 billion media deals<\/a> which begin next seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While acknowledging the ratings topic remains persistent, Silver said it reflects the NBA\u2019s self-critical culture<\/strong>, one that often leans too much on perceived negatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of the culture in the NBA that we\u2019re self-critical\u2026 it seeps into our coverage, quite honestly, sometimes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, Silver\u2019s stance is clear: great basketball should matter more than market size or media metrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the 2025 NBA Finals featuring two small-market teams; the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, it was inevitable NBA Commissioner Adam Silver would face questions about TV ratings and market size. But as he made clear Thursday, he\u2019s tired of the conversation. \u201cIt frustrates me that the first thing [fans] say is, how are the ratings? What are the ratings going to be? As opposed to, wow, you have two incredible conference finals,\u201d Silver said during his annual Finals news conference, about an hour before Game 1 tipped off. Silver pushed back on the narrative that market size still heavily dictates success, citing how technology and global reach have leveled the playing field for smaller teams. He emphasized that the league\u2019s $76 billion media deals which begin next seasons.\u00a0 While acknowledging the ratings topic remains persistent, Silver said it reflects the NBA\u2019s self-critical culture, one that often leans too much on perceived negatives. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the culture in the NBA that we\u2019re self-critical\u2026 it seeps into our coverage, quite honestly, sometimes,\u201d he added. In short, Silver\u2019s stance is clear: great basketball should matter more than market size or media metrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220,3,531,169,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-sport-football-news","category-basketball","category-news-2","category-news","category-news-and-analysis"],"yoast_head":"\nAdam Silver Shrugs Off Ratings Talk Ahead of Small-Market NBA Finals - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Adam Silver faced questions about TV ratings and market size but made clear Thursday, he\u2019s tired of the conversation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/adam-silver-shrugs-off-ratings-talk-ahead-of-small-market-nba-finals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adam Silver Shrugs Off Ratings Talk Ahead of Small-Market NBA Finals - 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