Just how dependent on Game 7s is the NBA for playoff revenue? A review by Breitbart Sports of advertising figures presented by Ad Week makes it clear how dependent the NBA, as well as the NHL and Major League Baseball playoffs, is on Game 7s. Unlike the BCS, NFL and March Madness who will be almost guaranteed a billion dollars a year. Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT on TNT, the Bulls and Nets give the NBA the first Game 7 of the 2012-13 playoffs.
The league wishes every series could go to seven games like the Bulls-Nets series that concludes Saturday at 8 p.m. on TNT.
In basketball, March Madness gets about $100,000 per spot for the 52 do-or-die games opening week, $350,000 per spot for the 12 games the second week, and $700,000 per spot for the three games Final Four weekend to top $1 billion with little variation.
The NFL’s stream is just as predictable, ending with $3.5 million per Superbowl commercial after getting about $1.5 million for the conference championships and less for the earlier playoff games.
The BCS game was already pulling over $1 million per commercial, and business executives are confident that once the semifinal games are added next year the four-game series can hit the $1 billion mark.
The NBA playoffs do not start pulling around $4.6 million per spot until the championship series, which can be zero to four games. Overall the NBA will make almost twice as much on the title series if it goes to a Game 7 verses Miami coming through and sweeping it in four.
As a result, the NFL, NCAA and soon BCS can count on $1 billion a year for their playoffs, while the NBA strives to be the “best of the rest” at just over half that amount – depending on how long each series goes.
The NBA playoffs are by far the most profitable of the sports that rely on series, with the same Ad Week article reporting they pulled in $536.9 million in revenue to $354.1 million for baseball playoffs and $101.1 million for hockey playoffs.
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