The Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors has delivered plenty of drama and excitement through the first two games of the 2022 NBA Finals, and that has translated into massive TV ratings.
Game 1 was the most-watched NBA Finals Game 1 since 2019 (Warriors-Toronto Raptors), per the NBA. The game drew 11.9 million viewers across ABC and ESPN2 and peaked at 13 million viewers. Game 1 was up 37 percent from last year (Phoenix Sun-Milwaukee Bucks) and up 55 percent from 2020 (Los Angeles Lakers-Miami Heat).
Despite the game being decided by the start of the fourth quarter, Game 2 drew an identical 11.9 million viewers, but peaked at 14.1 million, per ESPN's Ben Cafardo. Game 2 was up 24 percent from last year, and through two games, the NBA Finals are up 30 percent from year ago. Both games also won their respective nights in all of television and in all key demos.
An explanation for the rise in viewership is teams from bigger markets. San Francisco and Boston are considerably larger markets than Phoenix and Milwaukee, and even though the stigma around small-market teams has decreased over the years, big-market clubs still tend to garner more favor from the general public, especially with a team featuring one of the game's most popular players in Stephen Curry.
These numbers will come up in the NBA's TV rights negotiations with other networks. Those contracts bring more revenue to the league, which helps out the players with their revenue-share agreement through the league's collective-bargaining agreement. NBA players receive around 50 percent of the league's revenue.
The revenue the league generates has helped players like Curry sign a record super-max contract -- a deal Celtics forward Jayson Tatum missed out on at the cost of $30 million. It has also contributed into helping Lakers star LeBron James becoming a billionaire.
