As an advocate fan of professional sports, the NBA has come full circle in 2009 not only for myself, but seemingly for everyone around me. With stars like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant leading the pack, people from coast to coast are curious on what the buzz is all about. Not only am I glued to my television screen every night, but my girlfriend, my parents, and even aunts and uncles are emailing me about the special entertainment the NBA is displaying.

With all of this said, I ventured into how these special times for the NBA are affecting markets throughout the country. From national sports radio to local television networks, it seems that the NBA playoffs have been clogging up the marketplace. Did you know that the NHL championship will be decided in the next couple of weeks? (yawn) Exactly.

The USA TODAY reports that “Sunday’s Game 3 (Cleveland vs. Orlando) drew an overnight rating that was up 65% from a San Antonio-Lakers playoff game in the time slot last year” Furthermore, “ESPN, after the first two Denver-Lakers games became ESPN’s most-watched basketball games ever, [and] had overall NBA playoff ratings running 3% ahead of last year.”

Most watched basketball games ever?

TNT reported that “Game 7 of the epic first round battle between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls…was watched by 6.9 million total viewers on TNT. That audience total makes it the most-watched round one game in cable television history.”

In cable television history?

Shocked? Surprised? Stunned? I am not. The NBA has all the players in place and all of the advertising it needs to fuel the league for many years into the future. Looking back on it now, I should have known that when my girlfriend wanted to tune in every week that the NBA was headed in the right direction.

GO NUGGETS!

-RF