Not surprisingly, the ratings for the final game of the NBA championship series were sky high in Chicago, second only to the 1986 Super Bowl for a sports broadcast. The Nielsen service gave the evening to WMAQ-Ch. 5 with a rating of 58.3 and a 78 share; Arbitron gave the station a 51.5/73. The Bears- Patriots Super Bowl drew a Chicago audience of 63.2/87.
Nationally, the Nielsen numbers were almost as impressive. The broadcast delivered to NBC an average rating of 19.7-it climbed to 25 at the game`s conclusion-and a 36 share. Last year, the final game in the Detroit-Portland series averaged a 13.2/25.
Each local rating point represents 31,000 households, while a national rating point equals 931,000. A share represents the percent of sets actually in use.
According to NBC, last night`s contest was the highest rated Game 5 and second-highest rated game ever, behind 1988`s Detroit-L.A. Game 7 at 21.2/37. The full five-game series averaged a 15.8/32, which is the 2nd highest final series in NBA history behind the 1987 Lakers-Celtics series, which went six games.
The games averaged a total nightly viewership of 43.9 million, largest in history, according to NBC.