PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers have seen the largest percentage decline in local TV viewership among NBA teams this season. Viewership of Blazers' games, which air on Root Sports Northwest, is down 49%, according to the Sports Business Journal (SBJ).
Reasons for Portland's decline aren't spelled out by SBJ, but there are at least three obvious factors that could explain the drop in viewership: the departure of franchise superstar Damian Lillard, who was traded before the season to the Milwaukee Bucks; the Blazers' poor performance this season (at 15-39, Portland has the fifth-worst record in the NBA); and the fact that the games air on Root Sports, which was pulled from Xfinity's standard package and relegated to the more-expensive "ultimate" tier package of channels prior to the season.
The other four teams with the highest drop in local viewership, along with the Blazers, were the Brooklyn Nets (-37%), Washington Wizards (-35%), Cleveland Cavaliers (-16%) and New Orleans Pelicans (-12%). While the Nets and Wizards are, like the Blazers, among the NBA's worst-performing teams, the Cavaliers and Pelicans are not, so the correlation of team success to local viewership isn't a concrete connection.
The Blazers' steep decline comes despite NBA viewership in local television markets being up across the league. SBJ reports that "according to the Nielsen Station Index — which measures the audience for 27 NBA teams across 25 local U.S. markets — 18 franchises had increased their linear TV viewership year-to-year through the same amount of games."
The five NBA teams with the highest percentage gains in viewership are all playoff contenders — the Denver Nuggets (+139%), Minnesota Timberwolves (+107%), Phoenix Suns (+94) and Orlando Magic (+76) — along with the San Antonio Spurs (+54%), surely buoyed by top draft pick Victor Wembanyama.
The Suns' increase in local viewers could be instructive for Portland's future. Phoenix moved its games to free over-the-air broadcasts this season. The Blazers, whose contract with Root Sports ends after the 2024-25 season, are surely keeping an eye on data like that as they weigh options for their next local TV deal.
In-game attendance has not seen as sharp a drop for the Blazers this season as TV viewership. Portland is averaging 18,354 fans this season, which ranks 13th in the NBA, down from 18,716 last season, which ranked 10th. That marks just a 1.9% decrease.
KGW reached out to the Portland Trail Blazers for a response but has yet to hear back.
Download the KGW News app: Download for iPhone here | Download for Android here
Stream newscasts for free on KGW+ on Roku and Amazon Fire: How to add app to your device here
See a typo in this article? Email web@kgw.com for corrections