Category Archives: MLB

South Korea fines new Cardinals pitcher for gambling

The newly-signed St. Louis Cardinals reliever Seung Hwan Oh gets another fine for his gambling escapade in Macau and this time from his country South Korea.

A Seoul court has fined Oh KRW 10 million ($8,300) for breaking South Korean laws by gambling at a Macau casino, according to spokesman Joon Young Maeng at the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday.

Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Lim Chang-yong, Oh’s ex-teammate with South Korean club Samsung Lions, was also fined the same amount.

Oh and Lim were recently ordered by the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) to pay a fine of KRW 7 million ($5,800) after prosecutors decided their actions constituted a summary offense. Both were also hit with half-season bans if they decide to return to the KBO League.

Korean pitcher dodges jail time; off to U.S. for MLB talks

South Korean pitcher Oh Seung-Hwan’s dream of becoming big in the American baseball world is almost within his reach.

Oh, a relief pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers, was dragged into an illegal gambling hullabaloo for allegedly wagering millions of won in Macau in November 2014.

Earlier this month, Oh was called to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office for questioning. During the five-hour interrogation he admitted to borrowing chips worth “some hundreds of millions of won,” but said the number of times he gambled and the amount he wagered were “insignificant.”

Last week, the prosecution asked a local court for a summary order against Oh and Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club Samsung Lions veteran pitcher Lim Chang-yong and a fine of seven million won (US$5,970) each, Yonhap reported.

MLB commish Rob Manfred upholds Pete Rose lifetime ban

Not today, Pete.

Okay, that may not be what Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told Pete Rose when he called him up on Monday to tell him that he is upholding his ban, but that’s just how I imagined it.

Three months before the decision, Manfred met with Rose at the MLB headquarters on Park Avenue in Manhattan to discuss the ban, which was enforced 26 years ago. Rose described the meeting as “cordial” and he claimed to have answered Manfred’s questions “truthfully”.

According to Manfred’s report, at the meeting, Rose admitted that he extensively bet on Cincinnati Reds games in 1987, although his memory was a bit cloudy on his involvement in betting on baseball when he was still an active player in 1985 and 1986. Another significant confession from Rose, which he tried to deny at the first part of their meeting, was when he admitted that he still bet recreationally and legally (in Las Vegas) on horses and sports, including baseball.

MLB commish Rob Manfred upholds Pete Rose lifetime ban

Not today, Pete.

Okay, that may not be what Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told Pete Rose when he called him up on Monday to tell him that he is upholding his ban, but that’s just how I imagined it.

Three months before the decision, Manfred met with Rose at the MLB headquarters on Park Avenue in Manhattan to discuss the ban, which was enforced 26 years ago. Rose described the meeting as “cordial” and he claimed to have answered Manfred’s questions “truthfully”.

According to Manfred’s report, at the meeting, Rose admitted that he extensively bet on Cincinnati Reds games in 1987, although his memory was a bit cloudy on his involvement in betting on baseball when he was still an active player in 1985 and 1986. Another significant confession from Rose, which he tried to deny at the first part of their meeting, was when he admitted that he still bet recreationally and legally (in Las Vegas) on horses and sports, including baseball.

MLB Commissioner to decide whether to reinstate Pete Rose before the year ends

There is a big news coming for Pete Rose.

According to a written statement, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has promised to decide by the end of the month. That’s less than a month of waiting whether Santa would be so generous that Rose will find a reinstatement letter on a red Christmas sock he hang on his wall or he and his lawyers will just have to keep on trying.

Even if the old Charlie Hustle is giving Manfred those puppy eyes, nobody at MLB is suggesting at which way the commissioner is leaning and many believes that there is no reason Manfred will do what his mentor/predecessor Bud Selig didn’t do from 1992-2015 and that’s lifting Rose’s ban for 20 years.

But hey there may be a bit if chance as Manfred may be the most open-minded MLB commissioner. Manfred during an interview with ESPN said that he wanted to have a sports betting discussion with team owners. That is after the fact that baseball really hates gambling.

MLB Commissioner to decide whether to reinstate Pete Rose before the year ends

There is a big news coming for Pete Rose.

According to a written statement, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has promised to decide by the end of the month. That’s less than a month of waiting whether Santa would be so generous that Rose will find a reinstatement letter on a red Christmas sock he hang on his wall or he and his lawyers will just have to keep on trying.

Even if the old Charlie Hustle is giving Manfred those puppy eyes, nobody at MLB is suggesting at which way the commissioner is leaning and many believes that there is no reason Manfred will do what his mentor/predecessor Bud Selig didn’t do from 1992-2015 and that’s lifting Rose’s ban for 20 years.

But hey there may be a bit if chance as Manfred may be the most open-minded MLB commissioner. Manfred during an interview with ESPN said that he wanted to have a sports betting discussion with team owners. That is after the fact that baseball really hates gambling.

Korean pitcher faces gambling charges amid bid to join MLB

A South Korean pitcher’s dream of playing in the Major Baseball League could be shattered over gambling charges.

Hanshin Tigers relief pitcher Oh Seung-Hwan will be summoned by Seoul prosecutors this week over illegal gambling overseas probe.

Oh was dragged into an illegal gambling hullabaloo after the prosecutors secured a list of Koreans who frequently go to gambling houses in Macau and other Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines.

South Korea, which allows local residents to enter to just one of the country’s 17 casinos, also prohibits its citizens from gambleing abroad.  According to a former member of a Korean gang surnamed Lee, Oh gambled over 100 million won in the exclusive junket room Lee used to operate in Macau.

Korean pitcher faces gambling charges amid bid to join MLB

A South Korean pitcher’s dream of playing in the Major Baseball League could be shattered over gambling charges.

Hanshin Tigers relief pitcher Oh Seung-Hwan will be summoned by Seoul prosecutors this week over illegal gambling overseas probe.

Oh was dragged into an illegal gambling hullabaloo after the prosecutors secured a list of Koreans who frequently go to gambling houses in Macau and other Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines.

South Korea, which allows local residents to enter to just one of the country’s 17 casinos, also prohibits its citizens from gambleing abroad.  According to a former member of a Korean gang surnamed Lee, Oh gambled over 100 million won in the exclusive junket room Lee used to operate in Macau.

Major League Baseball first US league to sign up for sports betting data monitoring

Major League Baseball has inked a real-time betting data monitoring deal with UK firm Sport Integrity Monitor (SportIM).

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it marks the first US deal for SportIM and the first time a major North American pro sports league has signed with a company to provide real-time monitoring of betting activity. The deal will commence with the start of the 2016 MLB season.

SportIM provides real-time monitoring of both regulated and unregulated betting markets for signs of unusual betting patterns, which could indicate possible efforts by match-fixers to manipulate the outcome of sporting events. It’s up to the individual leagues to act should they suspect that SportIM’s data suggests possible chicanery.

SportIM, a subsidiary of the Genius Sports Group, counts the English Premier League and other major European leagues among its clientele. SportIM opened an office in Washington, DC earlier this year in a bid to bolster ties with US-based leagues.

Major League Baseball first US league to sign up for sports betting data monitoring

Major League Baseball has inked a real-time betting data monitoring deal with UK firm Sport Integrity Monitor (SportIM).

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it marks the first US deal for SportIM and the first time a major North American pro sports league has signed with a company to provide real-time monitoring of betting activity. The deal will commence with the start of the 2016 MLB season.

SportIM provides real-time monitoring of both regulated and unregulated betting markets for signs of unusual betting patterns, which could indicate possible efforts by match-fixers to manipulate the outcome of sporting events. It’s up to the individual leagues to act should they suspect that SportIM’s data suggests possible chicanery.

SportIM, a subsidiary of the Genius Sports Group, counts the English Premier League and other major European leagues among its clientele. SportIM opened an office in Washington, DC earlier this year in a bid to bolster ties with US-based leagues.

MLB Strikes Protective Global Data, Events  Deal

One might not think that baseball, compared to global sports like soccer and basketball, or a massive gambled-on sport like the NFL, would have gambling on their minds as a way to disrupt the game. However “America’s Game” has been marred by scandal in the past, and recently, the sport in Japan has been hit by a game-fixing scandal, with the Yomiuri Giants being handed an $800,000 fine earlier today.


So maybe it isn’t that surprising that MLB, under the progressive leadership of Rob Manfred, today announced a partnership with a company known for keeping some of Europe’s biggest leagues, The English Premier League,  Euroleague Basketball and the Football Association among them, scandal free when it comes to data and gambling. Sport Integrity Monitor announced their new partnership with MLB, and marking the first time any of the U.S. professional leagues have taken an advanced pre-emptive strike of such a larger scale to prevent issues in the future with regard to game fixing and the compromising of data in markets like Nevada where gambling is now legal in the U.S., as well as the millions of dollars that is gambled overseas.


 “Major League Baseball is pleased to work with Sport Integrity Monitor in this vital area, as this partnership will be an essential part of our initiatives to protect the game’s integrity.  We look forward to making use of SportIM’s expertise and market-leading monitoring solutions in order to ensure that we have accurate and timely intelligence,” Dan Halem, Chief Legal Officer of MLB, said in the release.


SportIM will monitor vast amounts of sports and wagering related data and statistics on behalf of MLB and report trends in real time. This new expanded monitoring program will help keep baseball at the forefront of security innovation as the global interest in baseball grows and fans in the United States and beyond move online to follow the action. The new partnership is an extension of MLB’s tough anti-corruption policy and its wide-ranging initiatives already in place. These proactive steps help to ensure that fans are always treated to a fair and transparent game, players have the utmost belief in having a winning mind-set, and league representatives are equipped with information and tools to maintain a clean, honest and exhilarating sport.


As legal sports gambling becomes more front and center in the United States, and the issues with DFS continue along, the integrity of data streams, as well as the credibility of those in the field, will come more into focus. While there is apparently no issue with MLB being compromised now, this move sends a loud and clear message to all that baseball is watching, and looking for improprieties, and that pre-emptive strike will be very helpful in maintaining security and integrity on and off the diamond for years to come for a game whose focus on technology and global growth is paramount.

Commissioners: fantasy sports not gambling but needs regulation

Three US major sports league commissioners all agreed to one thing: daily fantasy sports is not gambling.

In an interview on ESPN’s Mike and Mike, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has maintained his position on fantasy sports as not gambling but suggested the fantasy organizations should have an appropriate safeguards in place “to ensure that things are fair and that fans who engage on these platforms have an opportunity to win.”

Manfred also added that he is comfortable with the legality of the games that are being offered by DraftKings as the federal law has created a certain landscape for fantasy sports.

DraftKings has become the official daily fantasy game of MLB and has extended its sponsorship with the league’s 27 team and according to Manfred fantasy sports has given the league the fan engagement that it needed.

Commissioners: fantasy sports not gambling but needs regulation

Three US major sports league commissioners all agreed to one thing: daily fantasy sports is not gambling.

In an interview on ESPN’s Mike and Mike, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has maintained his position on fantasy sports as not gambling but suggested the fantasy organizations should have an appropriate safeguards in place “to ensure that things are fair and that fans who engage on these platforms have an opportunity to win.”

Manfred also added that he is comfortable with the legality of the games that are being offered by DraftKings as the federal law has created a certain landscape for fantasy sports.

DraftKings has become the official daily fantasy game of MLB and has extended its sponsorship with the league’s 27 team and according to Manfred fantasy sports has given the league the fan engagement that it needed.

The week the wheels fell off the daily fantasy sports industry

The wheels are rapidly coming off the daily fantasy sports industry, as operators DraftKings and FanDuel barred employees from entering DFS contests, Major League Baseball expressed surprise that such activity was going on and media partner ESPN attempted to walk back its cozy relationship with DraftKings.

Word of the employee policy shift was first announced in a New York Times report on Monday, following negative player reaction to the companies’ vaguely written joint statement regarding the ‘insider trading’ allegations that broke last week.

Later on Monday, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) – whose board members include the CEOs of DraftKings and FanDuel – released a statement saying its charter required member companies to “restrict employee access to and use of competitive data for play on other sites.”

While insisting that there was no evidence that this ‘rule’ had been broken, the FSTA said the recent controversy over DraftKings’ written content manager Ethan Haskell’s inadvertent publishing of sensitive in-house data – and Haskell’s subsequent $350k score on rival FanDuel – had convinced DraftKings and FanDuel “to prohibit employees from participating in online fantasy sports contests for money” while the DFS industry “works to develop and release a more detailed policy.”

DraftKings ventures into world of fantasy eSports

DraftKings is expanding the fantasy horizon. The popular daily fantasy sports site announced it will add eSports in its lineup, alongside NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.

The Boston-based website will begin offering fantasy eSports contests on Oct. 1, with the League of Legends World Championships. This means players can draft a team of professional gamers and compete against others online for real money, much like the traditional fantasy sports like football and basketball.

Participants can play for free or pay a minimal $3 entry fee to win $25,000, among other cash prize contests.

“eSports is one of the world’s most popular spectator sports,” DraftKings CRO and co-founder Matt Kalish said in a statement.

Pallone: Major leagues start singing new tune following calls for DFS probe

New Jersey’s tireless advocate for sports betting legalization wants the industry “out of the shadows.”

During a forum hosted by the International Centre for Sport Security, Rep. Frank Pallone said he believes the Congress would’ve already passed a law that will legalize such form of gambling, if not for “the sports leagues opposing sports betting.”

“This is a billion-dollar industry run by organized crime, and instead we’d like to see money generated through tax revenues that could go to state education, for instance,” Pallone said during the forum, according to NewJersey.com.

Online sports gambling are outlawed under the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), but Pallone has been working diligently to end PASPA’s despotic rule in his home state. Last January, the lawmaker reintroduced a bill that would have New Jersey offer full-fledged sports betting, just like Nevada.

The Double Standard in Sports and Gambling

By Terry Lyons @terrylyons, Contributing columnist @TheDailyPayoff

The landscape is riddled with double standards, hypocrisy, deceit and public posturing. No, we’re not calling out the politicians and law-makers, we’re talking about sports and sports gambling.
The North American sports industry has a lot of different policies on gambling. Let’s list a few.
There’s a policy for sports gambling in Nevada.
There are federal policies for Delaware, Montana and Oregon that allow for lottery-type games and parlay tickets. There was a similar policy for New Jersey, but state legislators failed to move on that loophole back in 1992 and are now trying to carve out an entire new approach for sports wagering while they continue to offer other forms of gambling and poker-play online to Jersey residents and in-the-flesh in Atlantic City.
There are policies for horse racing. There are policies for Off Track Betting parlors affiliated with horse racing.
There are policies for Native American tribal casinos.
There are different policies for many of the Canadian provinces, some of which have NBA or NHL teams and many which offer parlay wagering similar to offerings in Delaware.
There are policies for international games played, ever so frequently, in London, Mexico and other global destinations by the major North American sports leagues.
There are policies for international play where the Man United’s, Real Madrid’s and FC Barcelona’s along with the FIFA’s and FIBA’s of the world all have top-level bookmaker sponsorships with fully established and, in many cases, public companies like William Hill or BWIN.
There are policies for players.
There are policies for coaches and managers.
There are policies for front office and league personnel.
Some of those very policies drift over to the fantasy sports world where the leagues, their teams and broadcast outlets are making bold and strategic moves to cash in on the craze. The message conveyed is that it’s quite all right to take equity positions, rake in tons of sponsorship dollars, create fantasy gaming lounges and signage, but it’s hands-off for the players, coaches and office-workers.
I’m okay with that. In many cases, contest rules call for employees and their immediate families to refrain from entering the contests to allow the paying customers every possible chance of winning the big prizes without so much as a doubt that an “insider” would have access to the same jackpot.
But here is where the hypocrisy train leaves the station.
For one New York minute, don’t you think the owners, trainers, grooms and jockeys, roaming the back-stretch, have a few bucks on the races?
And, it’s not just horse racing we’re focusing on, here.
It’s perfectly acceptable for professional and amateur golfers to put down a few bucks on practice rounds or trick shots and nobody thinks twice. All in fun, and usually for stakes as low as $1 or maybe as high as $20, Phil Mickelson will have the gallery roaring with laughter on a missed “up and down,” as he did last August at the Barclays Championship in New Jersey.
While Mickelson’s antics with the fans, surely done all in fun, are no different than what takes place on nearly every weekend, on every hole of every golf course in the land, his more – shall we say – aggressive gambling on the NFL and other sports, done legally in Las Vegas, might be of more concern.
Why is Pete Rose vilified for his gambling on baseball and other sports, but Mickelson and Floyd Mayweather are beloved for their frequently boasts about a big hauls in Vegas on specific games or a successful futures bet?
Why can Maurice Jones-Drew be the voice of Fantasy Radio on Sirius XM satellite radio one day but Tony Romo and a group of NFL players were not able to attend a fantasy sports convention organized by a Vegas hotel promoter? Meanwhile, by the way, the NBA Summer League, USA Basketball training camp and the league meetings were putting up the tents at the Wynn Resort.
When basketball’s World Cup or the Olympics roll around, FIBA’s official sponsor BWIN will be taking action on the game in all corners of the earth, sans the almighty U.S.of A.Come this September 20th, BWIN will be taking wagers on the European Championship (qualifier for the 2016 Rio Summer Games) where pros and amateurs roam the courts, but should  someone mention wagering on college basketball-aged players in North America and ghosts of Henry Hill will surely hunt you down and haunt your Uncle Paulie.
At least, the NBA’s progressive Commissioner Adam Silver has come out to publicly state his long-range viewpoint and his desire to properly prepare for and regulate gaming, preferably on a Federal level rather than going State-by-State or Province-by-Province (in Canada) with different laws on the books. Silver’s NBA made a strategic equity play to back DFS provider Fan Duel and many sports Venture Capital funds – some of the coffers backed by team owners in all of the sports – are lining up for strategic plays in gaming, igaming and tech.
Isn’t it time for the hypocrisy to end? Isn’t it time for the commissioners of the four major pro sports of North America to come to terms with the issue, following Silver’s giant-step lead from his self-penned article in the New York Times? Isn’t the facade of DFS gaming just the taxiway to the promised land of full-scale sports wagering worldwide?
In a truly global economy, shouldn’t the gaming laws of the United States and Canada reflect the laws of Europe, Asia, South America and Australia?
Don’t bet on it happening anytime real soon.

Will Manfred Reverse The Rose ban? Don’t Bet Against It

Will Manfred Reverse The Rose ban? Don’t Bet Against It
@TheDailyPayoff

The face time MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is getting with the media in his first few months in office certainly trumps the time his predecessor, Bud Selig, proactively spent courting fans and media in most of his long term in baseball’s top spot. Manfred has made the rounds of the clubs and virtually every conference and media outlet telling his vision for baseball, and dealing with every issue from the continuing PED debate to labor piece to gaming and gambling.

This week, just before the St. Louis Cardinals scandal broke, Manfred sat down with Sports Illustrated’s Chris Stone at the Cynopsis Sports Conference in Manhattan, and addressed a fan favorite topic, one that the media likes to wax upon, the re-instatement of Pete Rose. With Rose being more involved in baseball formally this year, MLB has granted the Cincinnati Reds the ability to include the banned for gambling star in this year’s All-Star festivities and will let FOX include him in their national broadcasts from a studio setting, Stone asked when, or if, Manfred will allow “Charley Hustle” back into the game and make him eligible for that illusive Hall of Fame vote.

“It is certainly a topic we are looking at closely, and I think the time is coming soon where we will sit down and make a decision either way on Pete Rose,” Manfred said. “It will not be before the All-Star Game but I have given my word that we will address this finally sooner rather than later and then he, and the public will know where we stand and what, if any changes will be made to his status. I feel after all this time we owe it to him and to everyone else to look at everything and make clear our stance going forward. It is the fair thing to do.”

Manfred did not say what factors would go into the final decision or if he has spoken to Rose yet, but the fact that the issue will be addressed and will bring closure to the story is once again proof that the new commissioner is willing to be open and honest to talk about situations long thought taboo. How will it go, we also asked Jon Pessah, whose recent book, The Game, looks back at the issues that almost cost baseball is high perch, from steroids to gambling in the last few decades for his thoughts on the Rose situation and the gambling issue which Manfred continues to examine.

“Baseball has always tip-toed around gambling, given the Black Sox and Pete Rose scandals,” Pessah added. “That said, Rob Manfred and today’s owners are pragmatists in a very competitive entertainment landscape. Gambling is clearly part of the attraction of pro football, and MLB is looking for any way it can maintain and expand its fan base. I think Manfred and MLB will cautiously proceed down the parallel paths of fantasy sports and legal gambling.”

Pete Rose back in baseball under the new commissioner’s reign? Don’t bet against it.

High Stakes Game in TV Ratings

By TERRY LYONS, contributing columnist @TheDailyPayoff
@terrylyons

American Pharoah’s run to the Triple Crown grabbed our fair share of attention recently, watching intently as the once-in-a-generation thoroughbred won graded stakes at Churchill Downs, Pimlico and Belmont Raceway.

American Pharoah delivered on the track, but his Triple Crown win translated into only 18.6 million television viewers on NBC, down from the 20.6 million fans who tuned into California Chrome’s failed bid at The Belmont in 2014. When Pharoah had the Triple Crown on the line at The Belmont, you might’ve thought the stakes were as high as they’d get ,but as spring turns to summer and the stretch-run at Belmont is in the rearview, there’s no higher stakes in professional sports than that of the TV ratings game.

Certainly the National Hockey League and NBC benefitted from a strong audience lead-in from The Belmont, as Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final calculated a tune-in of 6.6 million viewers for Game 2 of the series between the Tampa Bay Lightening and Chicago Blackhawks, the strongest non-clinching game TV audience since 1994. The data will improve as the Stanley Cup series, split 2-2 as of this writing, moves on to Tampa for a pivotal fifth game.

Meanwhile, after the longest break in NBA playoff history between the Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of a memorable NBA Finals series, with MVP Steph Curry of the Warriors and the league’s best player, Lebron James of the Cavs doing battle on the court. However, the real numbers are being crunched off the court by the Disney Corporation, the caretakers of ABC Sports, cash cow cable entity ESPN and the NBA on ESPN property.

As of this writing, the 2015 NBA Finals are the highest-rated ever on ABC with Game 4 delivering a 13.9 overnight rating to be joined with the league’s soaring numbers after the first three games of the Finals. Those ratings points translate to some 18.6 million viewers turning into the series, with the numbers — like the NHL’s — sure to go up as the league is guaranteed no fewer than six games to determine the champion.

Delving deeper into the NBA on ABC numbers, the Nielsen ratings in Game 4 were up 31 percent from the Miami vs. San Antonio numbers of a year ago with the ABC ratings averaging 13.1 (overnight), up some 26 percent over 2014. Of course, those are record-setting numbers for ABC Sports and do not factor against the record numbers the NBA did when NBC Sports carried the property. During that run, veteran broadcast chief Dick Ebersol put the pedal to the metal to promote Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to the tune of a Game 6 1998 NBA Finals record rating of 18 No fewer than 30 million tuned into the NBA from United States households, alone, never mind the growing international audience for basketball.

To be clear, the television ratings game of the winter-spring sports, such as horse racing, ice hockey and basketball cannot and will not compete with the television audience for the NFL’s biggest game – The Super Bowl. Last February, the New England Patriots exciting victory over the Seattle Seahawks saw a Nielsen rating blockbuster of 47.5 that translated to a US audience of 114.4 million viewers for the NFL and TV’s biggest audience of the year. Quite simply, there will never be a sporting audience viewing a game on TV that is larger than the NFL’s Super Bowl audience.

The other interesting point of comparison in the high stakes ratings game for televised sports properties in Major League Baseball which saw an 8.2 ratings average and 13.8 million viewers tune into the 2014 World Series, according to Sports Media Watch. Between Jordan’s last game in 1998 and 2008, the World Series consistently out-rated the NBA Finals. But, over the past five years (2010-2014), the NBA Finals has out-rated Major League Baseball’s World Series and the trend is surely going to continue in 2015, unless October brings about a miracle story (Insert Chicago Cubs joke here!)

One other interesting factor in televised sports ratings is to look at the numbers from the competing local markets. In Cleveland, Game 4 of the NBA Finals generated a 45.7 rating for the 20+ point Golden State blowout of the Cavs. In the Bay Area (SF market), the broadcast delivered a solid 30.5 rating. Pretty amazing audience numbers for the NBA which was largely criticized, especially by NASCAR and Fox Sports tv executives, when the 2003 NBA Finals drew all-time ratings lows of 6.5 for the New Jersey Nets vs. San Antonio Spurs series.
That was a long time ago.