Lakers parade 2010 gives Los Angeles an opportunity to celebrate the team's championship win over the Boston Celtics. But it isn't the only thing the NBA is celebrating. More people globally watched these the 2010 Finals than ever before.
The Lakers parade 2010 on Monday will celebrate Los Angeles's NBA
championship over the Boston Celtics, but the NBA itself has more to
celebrate. The NBA finals garnered more viewers in America than any World
Cup match thus far, while also reaching out to more global viewers
than ever before with new TV audiences in the UK, Mexico, and Africa.
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For the first time ever, the United Kingdom could watch the games
live on ESPN, Mexican cinema chain Cinepolis broadcast the NBA Finals
live in theaters, Germany's sports journalists reported live from the
games, and Africa broadcast the Lakers-Celtics series on 15 free-to-air
stations through a new partnership with CAfrica.
"NBA popularity continues to rise around the globe and NBA fans from Boston to Beijing to Belgium are experiencing The Finals in more ways than ever before," says Matt Brabants, the NBA’s vice president of International Media Distribution.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) draws more than 50 percent of its TV audience from outside the US – more than any other US sports league. The recent Lakers-Celtics series was broadcast around the world in 215 countries and territories in 41 languages.
The world descended on Los Angeles and Boston, as well.
More than 280 international media members from 36 countries, including 44 media members from Lakers star Pau Gasol’s native Spain, reported live from the playoffs. A production company from India, Ten Sports, filmed a behind-the-scenes, three-part miniseries on the Lakers-Celtics series.
And other big markets offered coverage of the Finals. China presented live coverage through 51 television and digital media partners. Al Jazeera aired games live to the Middle East. Russia’s NTV Sport and Russia 2 provided coverage.
It was unclear as of Friday morning how many people in the US watched the Finals, but Game 5 on June 13 had 18.2 million viewers in the US alone, according to Nielsen ratings agency. That's a million more viewers than most anticipated World Cup match yet, England vs. USA, which had 17 million, according to Sports Media Watch. With such incredible ratings, ABC was selling 30-second commercial spots for about $400,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Game 6 matched the Game 5 audience, and was the biggest audience in six years for an NBA finals game.
As the NBA grows internationally, more foreign players are getting good enough to play in the NBA. Looking long-term, basketball scouts are hunting for the next Pau Gasol in Africa, India, or China.
But the NBA has a while yet before it can start marketing top international players abroad, such as Pau Gasol of Spain, says sportswriter Jack McCallum.
"The marketing component has not taken off," says Mr. McCallum, who has covered the NBA for Sports Illustrated since the mid-1980s. "They got ‘em because they were good... It’s a total value system, that’s why they’re playing."
If you live in Southern California, tonight you didn't need
your television on to know the LA Lakers won. The minute the game was
over, the horns started blowing, the fans were screaming and the
fireworks were going off. This is the Southland and the Lakers are
celebrities in our eyes so there is no surprise about the excitement.Skip to next paragraph
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"NBA popularity continues to rise around the globe and NBA fans from Boston to Beijing to Belgium are experiencing The Finals in more ways than ever before," says Matt Brabants, the NBA’s vice president of International Media Distribution.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) draws more than 50 percent of its TV audience from outside the US – more than any other US sports league. The recent Lakers-Celtics series was broadcast around the world in 215 countries and territories in 41 languages.
The world descended on Los Angeles and Boston, as well.
More than 280 international media members from 36 countries, including 44 media members from Lakers star Pau Gasol’s native Spain, reported live from the playoffs. A production company from India, Ten Sports, filmed a behind-the-scenes, three-part miniseries on the Lakers-Celtics series.
And other big markets offered coverage of the Finals. China presented live coverage through 51 television and digital media partners. Al Jazeera aired games live to the Middle East. Russia’s NTV Sport and Russia 2 provided coverage.
It was unclear as of Friday morning how many people in the US watched the Finals, but Game 5 on June 13 had 18.2 million viewers in the US alone, according to Nielsen ratings agency. That's a million more viewers than most anticipated World Cup match yet, England vs. USA, which had 17 million, according to Sports Media Watch. With such incredible ratings, ABC was selling 30-second commercial spots for about $400,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Game 6 matched the Game 5 audience, and was the biggest audience in six years for an NBA finals game.
As the NBA grows internationally, more foreign players are getting good enough to play in the NBA. Looking long-term, basketball scouts are hunting for the next Pau Gasol in Africa, India, or China.
But the NBA has a while yet before it can start marketing top international players abroad, such as Pau Gasol of Spain, says sportswriter Jack McCallum.
"The marketing component has not taken off," says Mr. McCallum, who has covered the NBA for Sports Illustrated since the mid-1980s. "They got ‘em because they were good... It’s a total value system, that’s why they’re playing."
Players who made the win happen will be there. Players like Kobe Bryant and even family such as his wife Vanessa Laine Bryant will be on the floats. Expect to see players, staff, family and of course, the Laker girls.
Another exciting part of the NBA Finals winner is the LA Lakers Parade 2010. This tradition is one you either love (because you attend) or hate (because the traffic in downtown is gridlocked.) According to the Lakers website the parade route is already set.
The parade will start at 11am on Monday and start by going down South Figueroa Street. From there it will weave its way around downtown until it gets to the Galen Center . Instead of the big production like last time, in an effort to save some money, the players will be on flatbed trucks that will have mics to interact with fans as they drive along.
In years past the winning team took hours to go the two mile stretch of parade route. Thousands of people stood 7 to 10 people deep just to catch a glimpse of the team. This year the attendance could be close to 2 million people, so be prepared if you decide to go.
Winning the NBA Finals and seeing the championship rings on the players is a big deal to those who live in Los Angeles. There is nothing better than seeing some celebrity athletes on the streets of Los Angeles.
Last time they won, I went down to the festivities to enjoy and I can't stress enough how much fun it was to cheer them on. A detailed map is on the Lakers site for the best place to stand to see all the players.
If you missed the highlights of the game, check out this cool photo show of Laker action at the Staples Center last night.