In the United States, there are typically sports championship games that are usually played after the conclusion of the season, whether that is the Stanely Cup, the Super Bowl, the College Football National Championship, or the NBA Finals.
However, there are championships that have been more watched and remembered in comparison to others. The first championship that attracts a lot of viewers is the Super Bowl.
According to techradar.com, in the 2015 Super Bowl matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, ended up with 114.4 million viewers.
The game also ended up as a top-rated game because of the ending that included quarterback Russell Wilson throwing an interception at the goal line, resulting in a victory for the Patriots.
According to techradar.com, two years later when the New England Patriots overcame a 20-3 deficit against the Atlanta Falcons, that game ended with 113 million viewers watching the game.
According to bleacherreport.com, in 2019, when the New England Patriots faced the Los Angeles Rams, that game totaled 107.7 million viewers.
The next championship game that brings in a lot of views is the NBA Finals. In 1998, which was the last year Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls, that finals game averaged 35.89 million viewers according to stadiumtalk.com. The game ended with Jordan sinking a bucket to win over the Utah Jazz.
According to fadeawayworld.net, in the 1997 NBA finals, the Chicago Bulls with Jordan, managed to best the Utah Jazz for the NBA title. The viewership got a total of 31 million viewers. Jordan went on to win his fifth ring with the Bulls that year.
According to fadeawayworld.net, Jordan’s first ring that came in the 1991 NBA finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, that viewership totaled out to be 23.91 million viewers.
Fast forward years later, in 2016, former Cleveland Cavaliers player Lebron James secured his third NBA title when facing the Golden State Warriors in a hard fought seven game series, with the Cavaliers coming out on top.
The NBA Finals averaged 31.2 million viewers according to fadea-wayworld.net.
In 2010, when the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers faced each other for a second time, the first time being in 2008, the viewer-ship in this match up totaled out to 28.2 million viewers. Former guard and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant won his fifth ring in this match up, according to fadeawayworld.net.
Most of these statistics provided above were calculations based on per household, then added up in total to get the actual number.
How they are calculated is based off a program called Nielsen, it is a program that identifies how many people are watching through the advertisers according to variety.com.
Daniel Alec Lopez is a reporter and may be reached at [email protected].
