I’m very interested in what the ratings show us this year for Toronto Raptors basketball.
Will we see an actual spike in everyday basketball fans who tune in? Sure, tomorrow’s season-opener when the Raptors raise the banner will get good numbers, but I doubt we’ll see anywhere close to the millions we saw at the end of last season watching the Raptors take home their first NBA championship.
The Raptors will still be good, but not that good without Kawhi Leonard, who is now home in L.A. with the Clippers.
Last season, the Raptors saw historic regular-season numbers up 29 per cent from the previous year. They saw a regular-season record of just over 700,000 viewers when DeMar DeRozan returned to T.O.
I’m sure Kawhi’s return will trump that.
Overall, I’m not sure we’ll have a dramatic increase with eyes on the Raptors. Will you watch more Raptors games because of this summer’s championship? Did you get sold on the entertainment of a basketball game over a hockey game?
The television numbers will give us the answer on just how much the bandwagon emptied through the summer.