The NHL Outdraws the NBA

You wouldn't realize it based on exposure from ESPN or other national outlets, but the NBA's ratings aren't much more impressive than the much maligned NHL ratings. In fact, William Houston from The Globe And Mail reports that the NHL on NBC drew more viewers than the NBA on ABC on Sunday, March 25th:

Each network earned a 1.0 rating (percentage of households tuned in), but NBC pulled in a larger audience share (percentage of time that people spent watching the telecast), 3 compared with 2. In total viewership, NBC outdrew ABC 1.31 million to 1.26 million.

Granted, the NBA game was running against college basketball, but it's also important to note that the NHL only has 24 league markets that are factored into the ratings whereas the NBA has 29. Obviously, cities with teams are much more likely to tune in as is evidenced by paltry NBA ratings in Buffalo.
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