Let’s do another notebook for you on this Thursday.
NEWS
The NBA Finals are breaking records. Through three games, the series between the Cleveland Cavs and Golden State Warriors is averaging almost 18.5 million viewers and a 10.8 rating which is slaughtering all programming on broadcast and cable.
Game 3 drew an 11.1 rating on ABC and that is the highest-rated NBA Finals Game 3 ever. And that’s up 26% from last year’s Game 3 rating of 8.8. Tuesday night’s game saw an average of 18.8 million viewers. Very good numbers for ABC and what ESPN officials are hoping for is an extended series. If Golden State wins in Cleveland tonight, then we’re assured of at least a six game set, but if Cleveland wins and goes up 3-1, there’s the potential for a short five game series. We’ll see what happens tonight.
By the way, as the last two minutes took what seemingly was an hour to play, the viewership for Game 3 on Tuesday peaked at 23.5 million viewers. So for those in the East who think the viewership goes down as the game approaches midnight, you would be wrong.
Now to some links.
LINKAGE
Whitney Friedlander of Variety writes that Showtime has purchased a documentary about former NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez and his brother.
Jessica Marksbury of Golf magazine speaks with Fox Sports’ golf director Mark Loomis about what we can expect to see at the U.S. Open next week.
Jeff Baumgartner of Multichannel News notes that Fox and NHK of Japan are jumping over 4K Super HD and testing 8K Super Duper HDTV at the Women’s World Cup.
Advertising Age says Nike has snatched the NBA uniform contract away from Adidas.
Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life tells us that one particular program is doing well against the NBA Finals.
Paulsen at Sports Media Watch says the UEFA Champions League Final on Fox/Fox Deportes had its best viewership in the last four years.
Jared Clinton of the Hockey News writes that NBC NHL voice Mike Emrick will be honored for his career in broadcasting.
Kimberley Martin at Newsday looks at some current New York Jets who took part in the NFL Broadcasting Boot Camp.
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times explores the deal that has ESPN buying time on ABC to air the NBA Finals.
Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News is amazed that the NBA Finals are beating the NHL Stanley Cup Final in Western New York, but both cannot outpace America’s Got Talent.
Meg James from the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog notes that with Charter Communications on board, SportsNet LA’s ratings for the Dodgers have practically doubled.
You may have noticed the Nitro Circus has begun airing shows on NBCSN and that’s part of a new rights deal with the NBC Sports Group.
Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says super agent Scott Boras feels MLB Network censored any mentions of his name during its coverage of the MLB Draft.
Chris Moore of World Soccer Talk notes that beIN Sports will carry all matches of the Copa America tournament starting tonight.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
ESPN has announced that it will air and stream Canadian Football League games once again. ESPN (mostly ESPN2) will televise 20 games while ESPN3 will stream another 69 games. Included in the schedule will be the 103rd Grey Cup Championship.
All of the games will be produced by TSN which has the CFL rights in Canada.
Here’s the announcement:
Canadian Football League Games Return to ESPN in 2015Preseason Schedule Kicks Off Friday, June 12
ESPN will televise 20 Canadian Football League (CFL) games in 2015 – including the 103rd Grey Cup championship – and an additional 69 games will be available on ESPN3, the company’s live multi-screen sports network. The 89-game schedule is part of a multi-year agreement with the CFL, which grants ESPN exclusive rights to present the league’s games in the United States.
The schedule kicks off with three preseason contests on ESPN3, beginning Friday, June 12, when the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders host the BC Lions at 9:30 p.m. ET.
CFL regular season games begin Thursday, June 25, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Michael Sam, the 2013 SEC Defensive Player of the Year, is expected to make his CFL debut for the Montreal Alouettes when they host the Ottawa Redblacks at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium. ESPN’s complete schedule of CFL games will be announced at a later date.
ESPN telecasts will utilize production and commentator teams from TSN, Canada’s Sports Leader.
ESPN’s 2015 CFL Preseason Schedule:
Date Time (ET) Game Network Fri, Jun 12 9:30 p.m. BC Lions vs. Calgary Stampeders ESPN3 Sat, Jun 13 10 p.m. Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Edmonton Eskimos ESPN3 Thu, Jun 18 7:30 p.m. Toronto Argonauts vs. Montreal Alouettes ESPN3 *Schedule subject to change.
Danica Patrick will join Fox Sports 1 this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET as a guest analyst on the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Michigan International Speedway. She’ll team up with lap-by-lap announcer Adam Alexander and regular Fox analyst Michael Waltrip. Fox has been using current Sprint Cup drivers as analysts on selected Xfinity Series races this season.
And that will wrap up our notebook for today. You get two notebooks in two consecutive days and that’s an upset! Take it while you can!
