HINDI na ikinagulat ng pamunuan ng NBA ang mababang television ratings sa Game One ng NBA Finals.

At may dalawang dahilan ito.

Wala si LeBron James

At ang Canadian numbers ay hindi kabilang.

Sinabi ng ESPN ng Sabado, na ang Game One ng Toronto-golden State series ay nakakuha ng 10.1 overnight rating, lowest para sa Game One ng title series sa loob ng nakalipas na dekada.

Hindi kabilang sa metered-market ratings na ginagamit sa USA ang Canadian viewership.

Pero ito ang most-watched NBA game sa kasaysayan naman ng Canada.

“Put aside perception, there is the actuality of the ratings,” komento ni NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “Of course, I pay a lot of attention to those. I also pay a lot of attention to the numbers in Canada, where we set an all-time record for viewership. In the U.S., I recognize it’s a changing television marketplace. We knew we would be down a bit by virtue of both not having two U.S. markets and we’ve come off eight years of having LeBron James in the finals.”

Samantala, ang first finals game para sa Canadian team ay nag-klik sa north.

Ito ang most-watched NBA game sa Sportsnet na umabot sa 7.4 million Canadians (nasa 20% ng nation’s population). Ang average size ng Canadian audience, ayon sa Sportsnet ay 3.3 million viewers at sa final minutes ng laro ay lumobo pa sa 4.1 million.

Bumaba ang ratings sa kabuuan ng playoffs ng NBA, bunga ng pagkawala ni James at ng Los Angeles Lakers.

“I’m not overly concerned,” lahad pa ni Silver hinggil sa ratings. “But I’m certainly paying attention to it.”