Finals ratings prove it. Let’s recap:
1999- 29 million watched the year before and it dropped to 16 million. Though it was the first Finals after MJ retired so can’t fault the Spurs for that.
2003- 15.7 million watched the Lakers sweep the Nets the year before. Drops to 9.9 million viewers
2005- 18 million watched Lakers/Pistons the year before. Down to 12.5 million for this one
2007- 13 million watched Heat/Mavs the year before. Down to 9.3 million for this juggernaut
2013 and 2014- 16.9 million watched Heat/Thunder in 2012. 2013 actually went up to 17.5 million, but 2014 went back down to 15.5 million
So in essence, why do fans seem to loathe the Spurs? And I can only imagine how much the NBA loved having ratings drop whenever they made it.
Media didn’t know how to sell them, and there are more Lakers fans than any other team, because of how big their state is, especially before the Warriors took off. Lakers will always have more views than any other team, Spurs have very few American fans and have to share Texas with two other teams who have fans that have experienced winning at the highest level.