Bulls Make Some Ratings History

The possibility of it being Michael Jordan’s final game brought NBC the highest television rating in NBA history for a game not in the finals.

Sunday’s Game 7 of the Chicago Bulls-Indiana Pacers series got a 20.7 overnight rating. (A ratings point represents 980,000 households.) That number is expected to fall slightly below 19 when the national ratings are released today, but should easily top the 16.3 for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals between New York and Boston in 1973.

The Los Angeles rating for Sunday’s game was a 19.8 with a 40 share.

Only three NBA games in history have eclipsed a 20.0 national rating--Detroit-Lakers, Game 7, 1988, 21.2; Chicago-Phoenix, Game 6, 1993, 20.3; and Utah-Chicago, Game 5, 1997, 20.1.

Chicago’s title runs have generated five of the seven highest rated finals in history, including the two highest, a 17.9 in 1993 against Phoenix and a 16.8 last year against the Jazz.

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Fortune magazine estimates Jordan has pumped $10 billion into the economy. With help from outside economists, Fortune estimates the Jordan personal and product line has been worth $5.2 billion alone to sneaker and sports apparel manufacturer Nike Inc. . . . Clipper guard Charles Smith will undergo surgery today on a broken left foot, an injury suffered in the New Mexico Games on Sunday, the team said.