2009/2010 NBA Schedule

The 2009/2010 NBA schedule is set to debut this Tuesday, August 4th. I will of course be among the throngs of NBA enthusiasts frantically downloading it as soon as the clock strikes the 1pm release date. But for those of you who won't even be able to make it through the start of another workweek without at least a hint of what is to come (or who can't care less and just want a general overview), here is a small taste of what you can expect.

Like last year, the season will open with a Boston/Cleveland match-up when the Celtics visit Cleveland on October 27th. It will also be the fourth time in six years that a Shaq-Kobe duo have taken the Christmas Day spotlight. While this may be a testament to Shaq's surprising longevity, it is also an indicator of a greater financial agenda.

With their golden ticket player, the mighty Cavaliers will take both of these prime spots ahead of an Orlando team that actually made the finals last year. Understandably, the schedule's construction is a 6 month undertaking beginning in early February, so maybe Matt Winick is still living in the land of pre-Eastern Conference Championship Puppet Land. Or maybe David Stern's feelings about small markets are showing. (Let's be honest, Stern would no rather down a bottle of tobasco than play host to a Denver-Orlando finals, or San Antonio-New Jersey for that matter).

In the end, perhaps it only makes sense for Stern to tend to his own and favor more commercially palatable programming. As part of a larger trend, NBA ratings and profits have been in decline for some time now. This was highlighted in 2006 when a rained-out NASCAR telecast embarassed the NBA with higher ratings than an ABC broadcast of the Lakers-Caveliers/Kobe-Lebron faceoff. In any case, check out the schedule for yourself on Tuesday and let me know what you think. What do you think about the state of financial sense and programming decisions in the NBA?

*As a side note, here is an interesting article regarding the NBA small market dilemma.