New York • The NBA’s first international Finals may be a coup for Canada, but decidedly not for ABC.
Viewership for the first two games of the series between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors was down sharply from last year's finals — 28 percent for the first game and 29 percent for the second, the Nielsen company said.
While LeBron James fans may point to the star's absence, geography likely accounts for most of the drop. Toronto's television audience is not included in the Nielsen ratings, since it's out of the U.S. Missing one team's fan base is a huge hurdle for ABC.