What Panthers ratings show and how they compare to Heat. And Corso, ‘Inside the NBA’ notes
A six-pack of media notes on a Thursday, heading into Game 4 of the Panthers-Oilers series on Thursday night:
▪ The Panthers have consistently sold out their arena this postseason, elevated the level of hockey interest in South Florida and galvanized a community in their quest for a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship.
What they haven’t done is entice much of South Florida to watch their games during this postseason run.
Viewership in this market remains modest, far below what traditional hockey cities would produce if their team were playing in the Finals.
In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, the first three games on TNT produced ratings of 3.2, 3.0 and 3.2. That 3.2 means 3.2% of South Florida homes with television sets watched and 96.8 percent did not.
That 3.2 is less than one-third of what regular-season Dolphins games typically generate and less than a quarter of what Heat games draw locally when they’re in the Finals.
The five Heat-Denver NBA Finals games in 2023 averaged a 14.8 local rating, equal to about 255,000 Miami-Fort Lauderdale homes per telecast, compared with about 55,000 Dade/Broward homes for Panthers-Oilers Game 3.
As perspective, the Dolphins-Bills wild card game in January 2023 on CBS had a 15.0 local rating. Regular-season Dolphins games typically generate ratings between 9 and 13, which is below average for NFL markets.
In the Panthers’ defense, far more homes have access to regular-season Dolphins games on free TV and the Heat-Nuggets Finals on ABC, compared to the ongoing Panthers-Oilers series on TNT.
Also important to note: Game 7 of last year’s Panthers-Oilers series drew a 9.6 rating on ABC (WPLG 10) in Miami-Fort Lauderdale — comparable to some Dolphins games in recent years. So the fact this series is on cable — and not ABC — is a major factor.
And there’s proof that far more South Florida viewers seem inclined to watch the Panthers in a Game 7 than earlier games in a Cup Finals.
But also consider that Game 7 of the Heat-Celtics Eastern finals in 2023 had a 14.6 local rating on TNT, more than four times the Panthers-Oilers audiences on TNT so far in this series. (And yes, many people in South Florida and elsewhere have “cut the cord” and dropped cable since that Heat-Celtics series on TNT in 2023.)
The Panthers undoubtedly have created new hockey fans; regular-season Panthers ratings seldom even get anywhere near a 1.0 rating (or 1% of South Florida homes) and these games are attracting 8 to 12 times as many viewers as those.
But the TV playoff ratings suggest local interest in the Panthers doesn’t approach local interest in the Heat.
▪ Viewership is down nationally as well.
Friday’s Game 2 and Monday’s Game 3 on TNT averaged 2.5 and 2.3 million viewers, respectively. That’s down more than 30% from the 3.6 and 3.4 million who watched the same teams in Games 2 and 3 of last year’s Final on ABC.
The fact the series is on cable factors in. So does the fact that a Canadian team is involved.
Viewership for Game 3 was down from the 2.7 million for Game 3 of the last Final on TNT, between the Panthers and Las Vegas.
Game 3 on Monday produced the smallest Stanley Cup Final viewership since Canadiens-Lightning Game 2 on NBCSN in 2021.
▪ Even if ESPN wanted to tinker with TNT “Inside the NBA” when it begins airing the iconic program next season, it couldn’t. According to a source, the program contractually must remain as it is.
Ernie Johnson Jr., Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal will still be working for Turner Sports and doing the show from TNT’s Atlanta studios, but the program will be sublicensed to ESPN.
For weekday games during next year’s Finals, Johnson, Barkley, Smith and O’Neal will host the pregame and halftime shows on ABC, replacing Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Bob Myers and Kendrick Perkins.
The “Inside the NBA” postgame show very likely will air on ESPN instead of ABC, because ABC affiliates want to be able to air local news after weeknight games.
“Inside the NBA” likely will air on ESPN after ABC games, except for mid-afternoon Sunday games in February, March and April and 8 p.m. Sunday Finals games. (There are two 8 p.m. Sunday games scheduled for these Finals.)
▪ The biggest challenge for ESPN with “Inside the NBA” will be adjusting its halftime formatting. For years, ESPN’s halftime show has been dominated by ads, which would severely limit the Inside crew’s air time — and their comedic banter — if that doesn’t change next season.
We’re told ABC/ESPN officials will see if this issue can be solved without sacrificing ad revenue.
The ad-dominated ABC/ESPN halftimes have been a source of mockery; some halftime segments run under a minute.
▪ ESPN evaluates NBA coverage after every season, and the big conundrum in the months ahead will be whether to stick with this same three-person lead team (Mike Breen, Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson) or use only Burke or promote Tim Legler, who’s worthy of the lead job.
Chemistry among Breen, Burke and Jefferson has improved during this series, but it cannot come close to matching what ABC had with Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson (before both analysts were inexplicably laid off two years ago) or TNT had with Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Stan Van Gundy.
Complicating matters is Jefferson’s contract status; his deal expires after this season and Amazon has interest in him.
Unfortunately, ESPN has given no consideration to rehiring Van Gundy (a Clippers assistant coach) or Jackson.
Burke is fair, precise and generally concise in her analysis and has earned universal respect in the game; her biggest failing — and this isn’t her fault — is replacing what we viewed as the best co-analyst combination in sports television (Van Gundy, Jackson).
Jefferson’s analysis runs the gamut, from keen at times to master-of-the-obvious at others, such as when he said in Game 1: “I keep telling you — you need to play 48 minutes” against Oklahoma City. (Not sure who, exactly, was arguing that point and needed to be convinced.)
▪ The first “College GameDay” of next season — and Lee Corso’s final ESPN appearance — will originate from Columbus, Ohio, before an Ohio State-Texas game on Fox, ESPN announced this week.
Corso, who turns 90 in August, has been a part of college football’s most popular pregame show since it debuted in 1987, and his first headgear pick — when he donned Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye mascot head — happened in Columbus on Oct. 5, 1996.
Corso’s weekly end-of-show pick during GameDay’s Saturday selections has become a college football tradition; the former coach has made 430 headgear picks. He predicted Ohio State would win on 45 or those 430 occasions.
The show averaged 2.2 million viewers last season, its most ever, and won its 10th Sports Emmy for best weekly studio program.
ESPN hasn’t named a replacement, but one isn’t necessarily needed because of the additions of Nick Saban and Pat McAfee in recent years.
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM.
