When LeBron James took his talents to Los Angeles last summer, interest in the Cleveland Cavaliers figured to take a hit.
Now we know just how big the hit has been.
Earlier this week, the Sports Business Journal published a story detailing the NBA's local ratings heading into the All-Star break. And while the league's ratings are down as a whole -- roughly 10 percent, thus far -- no team has seen a dip quite like the Cavs, whose ratings on Fox Sports Ohio had dipped by 56 percent as of Feb. 18.
"Not surprisingly, the country’s biggest local ratings drop-off is in Cleveland, where Cavs games on FS Ohio are down 56 percent compared to last year when LeBron James played for a team that made the NBA Finals," the story by John Ourand and John Lombardo reads. "Conversely, James’ new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, has seen its games on Spectrum SportsNet jump by 42 percent."
It's not all doom and gloom for the Cavs.
Despite its drop, Cleveland still lays claim to the sixth-best local ratings in the league, with an average rating of 3.54. That's fairly remarkable considering that the five teams ahead of the Cavs -- the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers -- each possess winning records, while Cleveland currently lays claim to the third-worst record in the NBA this season at 13-46.
Although the league's overall ratings are down, they were up for 15 of the 28 teams made available for the report. Those gains, however, haven't been large enough to offset the sizable drops in markets like Boston, New York, Chicago and of course, Cleveland.
In addition to its local ratings, the NBA has seen its national numbers this season take a hit, something network executives have attributed to James' move to Los Angeles.
"His move to the West Coast has specifically hurt the TV numbers for the early game doubleheader windows, which has had a healthy dose of James throughout his career in East Coast time zones Cleveland and Miami," the story reads. "Plus, James has missed 20 games this season because of injury, which has negatively affected national network games. James has appeared in only four games on TNT, compared to eight at the same time last year. He missed two NBA Saturday prime-time games on ABC and another three games on ESPN."
In other words, Cleveland isn't the only place that has missed James' drawing power this season.