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Morning Edition

June 17, 2025

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The Thunder came into the NBA Finals as enormous favorites, but had arguably been outplayed in the first four games of the series. All that changed in Game 5, and Oklahoma City is now a win away from its first title.

While a long series is good news for the NBA and media partner Disney, viewership continues to lag.

— Alex Schiffer [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and Ben Horney [[link removed]]

NBA Finals Ratings Up Again in Game 4 but Still Down Overall [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The NBA Finals continues to trend upward in its viewership, but still lacks behind previous years.

Game 4’s Friday night thriller between the Pacers and Thunder averaged a series-high 9.41 million viewers [[link removed]] on ABC, according to Sports Media Watch. The series is still on track to be the NBA’s least-watched Finals since the 2020 bubble.

Friday night’s total was the second straight series-high, but down 2% from Celtics-Mavericks the prior year. Game 4 of the 2024 Finals was a blowout win by the Mavericks to extend the series and drew 9.62 million viewers.

Though low, ratings continue to climb.

Game 1: 8.91 million Game 2: 8.76 million Game 3: 9.19 million Game 4: 9.41 million

The 2025 Finals is averaging 9.07 million viewers through four games. That’s down roughly 20% from the first four games of last year; however, the NBA and ABC parent Disney are guaranteed at least six games, and ratings generally improve as series get longer.

Oklahoma City took Monday night’s Game 5, 120–109, and could clinch the series on the road Thursday night.

Thunder–Pacers features two small-market teams without one of the NBA’s global stars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant, which has made it a tough draw despite its competitiveness.

The fourth game of the series was down to the wire until league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carried the Thunder to the series-tying 111–104 win. The game peaked at 12 million viewers.

Only the 2020 COVID Finals performed worse in the Nielsen era, which started in 1988. The Lakers–Heat ‘bubble’ Finals aired in the first week of October and averaged roughly 7 million viewers.

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NBA, ABC Air Finals Lineup Intros After Fan Complaints [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The NBA continues to step up its belated efforts to remind fans they’re watching the Finals and not an ordinary game.

Ahead of Monday night’s Game 5, ABC aired the introductions of the starting lineups for both the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, the first time it had done so at the Finals since 2013. The plan to air the intros was first reported by ESPN. Sources told Front Office Sports that ABC will continue to do so for the remainder of the series.

The Thunder beat the Pacers 120–109 on Monday night to take a 3–2 series lead. Oklahoma City will have a chance to clinch the title in Indianapolis on Thursday night.

Through five games, the Finals have been a competitive series. Off the court, though, ratings have dipped, and fans have bemoaned a lack of pageantry [[link removed]]. The move to air the intros—and add a digitally imposed Larry O’Brien Trophy [[link removed]] logo to the court—shows that the league is plugged into the online discourse about its product.

The trophy logo was removed from Finals courts after 2009, and fans have complained every year since.

“I’ve seen some of the chatter on social media about on-court decals,” commissioner Adam Silver said before Game 3 [[link removed]]. “People don’t realize, they went away a decade ago because there were claims, Kendrick [Perkins] knows … they were slippery when we had them on the court. We’re back to adding them virtually.”

The NBA and ESPN did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ad space right before tipoff is valuable inventory, and airing introductions would eat into that ad time.

Michael McCarthy contributed reporting.

Chicago Fire Planning $650M Stadium As Bears, Sox Projects Stall [[link removed]]

Gensler

Major League Soccer’s Fire have taken close note of other pro stadium deliberations around Chicago, and they are determined to have a much smoother—and quicker—path from concept to reality.

The Fire began their formal effort to develop a $650 million, soccer-specific stadium [[link removed]] near downtown Chicago, holding a community meeting Monday night with local alderman Pat Dowell about the club’s plan to anchor The 78, an undeveloped parcel on Chicago’s South Loop.

As the neighboring Bears, White Sox, and Stars have each faced numerous obstacles in their pursuits of new facilities, particularly around obtaining public financing, the Fire and owner Joe Mansueto are moving full steam ahead with a private financing plan designed in part to have a new facility open roughly 33 months from now.

“We’re completely focused on making sure we deliver,” Fire president of business operations Dave Baldwin tells Front Office Sports. “We see ourselves as something of a sleeping giant, particularly as the biggest MLS market with only one team, and we want to ensure that this world-class city has a soccer stadium to match.”

There is little time for any sort of delays, though, as the club intends to secure all its needed zoning and preliminary approvals in the coming months and have shovels in the ground by the end of the year, and perhaps sooner than that. Such a rapid timeline would allow the Fire to stay on schedule for the stadium’s planned spring 2028 opening in collaboration with Related Midwest, the developer that owns The 78 land.

There is no active consideration, meanwhile, to have the White Sox join the Fire at The 78, Baldwin says. The MLB club has actively studied the site as a potential ballpark location for more than a year, and said earlier this month they “remain confident” the site could still house two facilities, but nothing has progressed beyond that.

“We wish them well, but right now, there’s no plan for any other stadium at The 78,” Baldwin says.

‘Enduring Elegance’

The Fire, meanwhile, also unveiled initial designs late Monday for the 22,000-seat stadium. Working with Gensler, which designed several other MLS facilities, including ones in Los Angeles and Austin, the early drawings aim to reflect the grittier nature of Chicago with a heavy focus on brick and steel.

“We want this to be truly emblematic of Chicago and are working around a theme of ‘enduring elegance,’” Baldwin says. “The core idea is to have something that looks like it would have fit right into the landscape of Chicago from 50 years ago and will be just as appropriate 50 years from now.”

That said, the design also pulls some influences from other recently developed MLS stadiums, as well as soccer facilities in Europe.

“One of the first things we did after Joe got involved with the team was move downtown to Soldier Field,” Baldwin says. “We’ve loved being in the city, but we’re really looking forward to having a true home-field advantage and that level of intimacy with our supporters right on top of the pitch.”

‘Pandemonium’: Putter Maker Sees Sales Surge After JJ Spaun’s U.S. Open Win [[link removed]]

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

J.J. Spaun’s 64-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the U.S. Open Sunday [[link removed]] has led to “pandemonium” for the company behind his putter, which is experiencing a significant rise in sales. It might also win him an equipment endorsement.

The PGA Tour journeyman used one of the zero torque putters from L.A.B. Golf, the DF3, on his winning putt. The shot led to a surge of new sales and social media posts referencing the company and its products, according to Sam Hahn, founder and CEO of L.A.B. Golf.

“It’s been total pandemonium,” he tells Front Office Sports.

The company does not yet have an official endorsement with Spaun, but L.A.B. Golf has already been in touch with the golfer’s people “and we hope to make that happen,” Hahn says.

“We’re only just recently in a position where we could afford any kind of endorsement deals,” he says. “Hopefully, this puts us over the edge in terms of being in that category.”

The company, formed in 2018, has previously collaborated [[link removed]] with Adam Scott on the OZ.1i collection of putters. Other famous golfers, including Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, and Sergio Garcia have used L.A.B. Golf products, although not in any official capacity.

“We don’t pay anybody,” Hahn tells FOS. “Besides Adam Scott, everyone just uses our [putters] on the merits of the technology.”

Hahn is optimistic the company can handle an uptick of orders. Between the collaboration with Scott and the litany of golfers using L.A.B. Golf putters on tour, the business has been taking steps to prepare for an opportunity like this.

“We’re lucky we were already on the path to experiencing this kind of demand,” Hahn says. “It’s exciting to be prepared for this moment. At any other point in our history, we weren’t.”

L.A.B. Golf has no major private backers. Hahn says that with the exception of a “small friend and family round, we bootstrapped all the way here.” That said, he’s willing to listen if the attention provided by Spaun’s winning putt gets anyone interested in investing.

“We’re open to any phone calls, of course,” he says.

Spaun, 34, received a record-tying $4.3 million winner’s check with his victory at Oakmont—nearly one-quarter of what his career earnings were coming into the tournament. An American with Filipino and Mexican heritage, Spaun had only won once before on the PGA Tour: the Valero Texas Open in 2022. Earlier this year, he finished second at the Players Championship after losing to Rory McIlroy in a playoff [[link removed]].

At -1, Spaun beat Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre (+1) by two strokes after draining a 64-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. That capped a back-nine 32 (-3) for Spaun, who rebounded after a 40 (+5) on the front nine.

Conversation Starters Florian Wirtz joined elite company with his $158 million transfer from Bayer Leverkusen to Premier League champion Liverpool—the third-largest fee behind Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. Check out the top 10 list [[link removed]]. After a one-year hiatus, 16-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champion Joey Chestnut is officially back [[link removed]] for this year’s July 4 showdown. Rafael Devers’s last hit for the Red Sox was a homer off the Yankees’ Max Fried at Fenway Park. Watch it here [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Why Does NBA Allow Finals to Get Overshadowed by Trades? [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Even ESPN, which airs the Finals, focused largely on a trade over Game 5. Gotham FC Owner Wants to Apply Peloton Instructor Model to NWSL Players [[link removed]]by Ava Hult [[link removed]]“We need to inject our Gotham stars into New York culture.” Revenue-Sharing Model Could Boost Programs in Football’s Shadow [[link removed]]by Andrew Goodrich [[link removed]]“We’re not getting paid the millions of dollars that football is.” Question of the Day

Were you more interested in Game 5 of the NBA Finals because the series was tied 2–2?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]

Monday’s result: 61% of respondents were surprised when they saw the Desmond Bane trade happen during the NBA Finals.

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