The 2025 NBA Finals were one of the least-watched in history—but Game 7 delivered an important viewership lift. 

The do-or-die Game 7 between the Thunder and Pacers drew 16.35 million viewers on ABC and ESPN+, the most-watched NBA game since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals (Warriors vs. Raptors, 18.34 million). 

The full seven-game series averaged 10.27 million viewers, down 9.3% compared to last year’s Finals between the Mavericks and Celtics (11.31 million). That makes it the least-watched NBA Finals series since 2021 (9.91 million, Bucks vs. Suns and the least-watched since 2007 when excluding COVID-19-impacted series (9.29 million, Spurs vs. Cavaliers).

Sunday’s game provided a 74% viewership lift compared to the 9.25 million viewership average of the first six games in the series. That’s more than the 65% average viewership lift the four other NBA Game 7s this century provided to their series—Sunday’s game likely got a lift from streaming on ESPN+, which was not the case for the first six games of the series, according to Sports Media Watch.

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The four other Game 7s this century also drew more total viewers than this year’s game. The most recent Game 7 between the Cavaliers and Warriors in 2016 drew 31 million viewers.

Viewership numbers for NBA Game 7s since 2000:

• 2025, Thunder vs. Pacers: 16.35 million
• 2016, Warriors vs. Cavaliers: 31 million
• 2013, Heat vs. Spurs: 26.32 million
• 2010, Lakers vs. Celtics: 28.2 million
• 2005, Pistons vs. Spurs: 19 million

Oklahoma City and Indiana are in the bottom-third of TV markets in the NBA, but the power of Game 7 helped the two small-market teams draw more than all but one game of the 2024 World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

However, the NBA Finals were down significantly compared to MLB’s previous Game 7s of the World Series in 2016 (40 million, Cubs vs. Cleveland), 2017 (28.2 million, Astros vs. Dodgers), and 2019 (23 million, Nationals vs. Astros).

The forthcoming $1.75 billion ballpark for the A’s in Las Vegas is closer than ever to reality, with the club, city officials, and MLB staging a large-scale groundbreaking Monday morning at the stadium site. Even with that milestone, however, questions remain for the club, both in the short- and long-term. 

The official event, more than four years in the making, arrives after an extended series of twists and turns including an initial stadium funding approval in Nevada, MLB’s ratification of the team relocation to Las Vegas, an emotional departure from Oakland, an initially discarded ballpark design, a revised but still unconventional vision for the facility, and demolition at the site along the famed Las Vegas Strip. 

With much of that extended drama now complete, construction on the 33,000-seat ballpark is now moving full steam ahead in preparation for a spring 2028 opening. 

“This is an epic moment for our 124-year-old franchise,” said A’s owner John Fisher. “Nevadans love baseball, and that’s given me tremendous confidence about what the future could be here.”

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league remains fully committed to the Las Vegas market.

“Las Vegas has proven itself to be a great sports town and a great host to professional franchises,” he said. “The Athletics have a long and proud history. … I think about today as the beginning of a new chapter in that history.”

Final Funding?

More than a year ago, Fisher hired veteran sports finance company Galatioto Sports Partners to help raise funding for the stadium project, with that consideration including potential sales of minority stakes of the club.

Nothing has been completed in that effort, and the stadium cost has grown somewhat. More recently, Fisher also started a separate sales effort for the Earthquakes of Major League Soccer, another franchise he owns. 

Goldman Sachs and U.S. Bank are providing a $300 million construction loan for the A’s stadium, and Fisher has pledged that he and his family will contribute up to $1.1 billion. The final breakdown of the funding sources for the ballpark, however, remains a work in progress.

Back in Sacramento

The current iteration of the A’s, meanwhile, is facing more issues on and off the field in Sacramento, the club’s interim home for the 2025–27 seasons. An offseason spending push designed to bring the team closer to contention and avoid union complications has not panned out as intended, as the club sits in last place in the American League West division with a 32–48 record. 

A series of operational problems at Sutter Health Park, also the home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, has grown to include fading acceptance by some star A’s players.

The club’s .357 winning percentage at home is significantly worse than its .447 mark on the road this year. Attendance, meanwhile, has also sagged as the club’s eight smallest crowds of the season have happened in the last three weeks. That’s helped drop the A’s behind the Rays, also playing this year in a minor league facility, for the worst average in the league at 9,722 per game.

Likely complicating the situation is a much-debated decision by the A’s to not use the Sacramento city name during this transition period.

The most anticipated, controversial, and lucrative Ryder Cup in history continues to get even more wonky on and off the course.

Three months ahead of September’s event at Bethpage Black Golf Course in New York, the possibility of Keegan Bradley being the first playing captain at a Ryder Cup since Arnold Palmer in 1963 has reached a fever pitch.

Bradley, 39, who was named captain of the U.S. team last July after Tiger Woods turned down the role, won the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship on Sunday, which boosted him eight spots up to ninth in the U.S. team Ryder Cup rankings. The top six after the Tour Championship in August automatically qualify for the squad, with Bradley on tap to select the final six to make up the 12-man team.

When he accepted the captaincy, Bradley said he wouldn’t use a captain’s pick on himself, and that he would play only if he qualified for the team. However, on Sunday night, he shifted his stance. “This changes the story a little bit,” Bradley said. “I never would have thought about playing if I hadn’t won. This definitely opens the door to play.”

Money Matters

Bradley playing as captain would no doubt further fuel what is already expected to be a rowdy home American crowd, which has led the PGA of America, which operates the Ryder Cup when it is played in the U.S. every four years, to take special security measures in preparation for unruly fans at Bethpage. On Sunday, the crowds at the Travelers Championship were repeatedly chanting “USA, USA” as Bradley came from behind to defeat England’s Tommy Fleetwood, an expected member of the European Ryder Cup team. 

With up to 60,000 people on-site daily, September’s event will easily set revenue records, Ryder Cup championship director Bryan Karns previously told Front Office Sports.

The influx of income comes after tickets quickly sold out last year, despite outcry from many fans and media about the $750 general-admission price tag.

Meanwhile, in a first for the Ryder Cup, players on the U.S. team will receive a $200,000 stipend for competing in the biennial team golf event. Players on the European team, who will continue to not receive any payment, have questioned the need for the Americans to be compensated. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy previously said he “would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup” team.