Or are all their TV, sponsorship, etc. contracts just flat $$$ amounts?

Less viewers = less consumers to advertise to.

Its that simple. Why is anything on TV? How do you pay actors? Follow the money.

No. I think the NBA tv contract is the same, regardless of the number of games on tv during the playoffs. I believe that from the television networks, the money is the same, whether or not the Heat beat the Mavs in 4 games or 5.

Now, the networks probably have a great interest in the series going longer.

When it comes to TV money, I imagine TNT/ABC are playing a flat rate for the rights to the broadcasts, so any money lost would be by the TV networks.

Now obviously the NBA ends up losing money based on the lack of ticket sales, merch/concessions revenue, etc. from a shorter series.

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[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 5/25/2011 8:08p).]

Out of curiosity, where do you think the NBA gets all this money?


Perhaps the networks figure that the average series goes '5.63' games and base their contract negotiations off that number rather than the assured 4 games they get to show. Or perhaps they bid for the standard 4 and the extra games get added revenue.

Take a look at what upheaval is occurring in the NFL over a 1 or 2 game expansion. We are talking about billions of dollars for an extra Sunday. Tell me the NBA gets paid the same in a playoff sweep versus a full 7game series!

My question - why are the first 3 rounds in a drawn out 2-2-1-1-1 format, but then once the Finals hit do they shift to 2-3-2?

Travel. The conference champs are presumably going to be located farther apart geographically than teams within a conference, therefore increasing the cost per trip for those teams. The 2-3-2 format involves two fewer trips than the 2-2-1-1-1 format.

Didn't they institute the 2-3-2 back when it was Celtics-Lakers pretty much every season?

That's not the way the television contracts work. Maybe the last round of bargaining changed things, but I doubt it.

TNT negotiates with NBA. They write the contract up for all the series going full 7 games. Both TNT and NBA know that isn't going to happen. But it makes a bigger splash, "TNT & NBA ink $100M deal".

If the series go 5 games, the series is discounted by 28%. Since TNT and ESPN carry the regular season as well, a few short series in the playoffs don't affect the bottom line very much. Neither the networks or league talk publicly about this much.

[This message has been edited by birdman (edited 5/25/2011 7:07p).]

Probably some stupid Laker-Celtic exception for coast to coast travel. I've always hated that too.

I should refresh before posting on something I opened hours ago.