Jordan’s Comeback Means the World : Commissioner Stern Says League was Already Booming, and That the Future is Global

The doors opened Friday night at the Forum, and Nick Van Exel walked in wearing his jersey. Funny, but he didn’t look like himself.

That’s because it really was Mike Bluth, 14, of Aliso Viejo, who was wearing a replica of Van Exel’s jersey with the No. 9 on it.

Bluth did what the Laker guard probably wished he could do. He got some popcorn.

At the same time, Van Exel was also sitting behind the basket. Actually, it was Ruben Torres, 9, of Moreno Valley. He was wearing a Van Exel jersey and carrying a red No. 23 jersey of the Chicago Bulls.

“I love Michael Jordan,” said Torres, who planned to change jerseys at halftime, thus increasing his mythical scoring average by about 20 points instantly.

And so it goes in the NBA, a league that runs on superstars and fans who want to be like Mike. Or Nick or Dennis Rodman or just about anyone the manufacturers can crank out a jersey for with a name and number on the back.

“To say the NBA is fun and profitable is like saying Genghis Khan could really ride a horse,” said Steve Due of the Sports Section in Inglewood, which sells sports gear.

Meanwhile, the NBA is busy selling itself and doing a pretty fine job of it right now.

Jordan is back, and David Stern keeps pinching himself to make sure he’s not dreaming.

Yes, the NBA was doing all right without Jordan. No, the commissioner is not giving Jordan an office next to his.

“Having him for the playoffs is such an extraordinary bonus,” Stern said. “To say that we were overjoyed is something of an understatement.”

One superstar to another, David Robinson said Jordan adds a certain something to the playoffs.

“We already had some fervor built up,” he said. “Now with him, we have even more fervor.”

Chances are, if you catch this fervor, you have been watching tripleheaders.

Ratings for the first two weekends of playoffs on NBC were higher than Robinson’s flat-top. The numbers are up 13% from last year and are the highest since 1977.

--Game 2 of the Chicago-Charlotte Hornet series on April 30 was the most-watched first-round game in NBA history--an estimated 32 million viewers.

--Game 1 of the Chicago-Orlando Magic series last Sunday was the most-watched conference semifinal game in NBA history--40 million viewers.

Chicago . . . Chicago? Is it a coincidence that the ratings are up with Jordan in uniform, whatever number it may be?

“That’s the $64,000 question,” said Ed Markey, a spokesman for NBC. “Let’s just say that what was already a good year for us turned out to be even better.”

Maybe so, because NBC fell behind in the first quarter. Its kickoff telecast, a Christmas Day doubleheader, went head to head with ESPN’s last regular-season NFL game and got sacked--a ratings drop of 46% over the previous year’s opener.

Markey said it took NBC eight weeks to catch up, and by the time Jordan slipped into his jersey, the network was within 0.2 of a rating point of where it was at the same time a year ago.

The Jordan factor kicked in immediately. If there was any question about what he means to the network and to the NBA, it was answered in his first game.

Chicago at Indiana on March 19 had a 10.9 rating and a 30 share. That was the highest-rated regular-season NBA game in 20 years and the most-watched NBA regular-season game of all time.

And Wednesday night’s Chicago-Orlando Game 2 on Turner Sports was the most-watched NBA game on cable in history.

Whether it’s because of Jordan’s influence, increased interest in the NBA or just plain luck, cable television ratings of the playoffs are up just like NBC’s. Through 30 games, Turner Sports reported a 27% increase over last year.

Of course, the May sweeps period just happens to coincide with the Jordan show, which doesn’t make everyone happy. David Poltrack is executive vice president for research and planning at CBS.

“You wouldn’t want it to happen every day,” he said. “Certainly, the networks other than NBC are not rooting for Michael Jordan.”

It is Stern’s position that the NBA was going to do just fine in the ratings even without Jordan. But of course, he hasn’t hurt.

“Despite all the talk about having lost Michael and Larry and Magic and being on a downtick, (TV ratings) were going to be up,” Stern said.

“Then, on top of it, we had the gift of Michael coming back. I think (increased ratings) are a blip. I think we’re going to continue to do well, but I think they were unnaturally bumped up because of the extraordinary interest in Michael’s return.”

Stern said he did not call up the league’s accountants and tell them to find a bigger bank when word of Jordan’s return crossed his Fifth Avenue desk.

“It isn’t the money at this point,” Stern said. “It’s what this is going to do for our game in the long run.”

While he’s at it, maybe Jordan can sit down and hammer out a new labor contract.

The current NBA battleground is not just the Forum or in Phoenix or Chicago or Indiana. It’s at the St. Regis hotel in New York, where the NBA Players Assn. and the league’s labor relations committee are hard at work on a new collective bargaining agreement.

The effects of the baseball strike and the hockey lockout were not lost on Stern and the NBA.

“We know how vulnerable it can all be,” Stern said. “We and our players are driven to try to make a deal in the worst way.”

A seven-year agreement ended last year, but both sides agreed to extend it for one year in hopes a new contract could be worked out before next season.

Simon Gourdine, executive director of the players’ group, said his side is trying to define the items in negotiation, and they are presently developing a stance on so-called defined gross revenue.

The players want to expand the subject in such areas as licensing, where NBA Properties gives the union a $500,000 fee. Gourdine said according to estimates, the NBA received $120 million from its licensing deals last year.

The NBA wants a seven-year labor deal, and the players want a five-year deal. Gourdine said the players want to limit the draft to one round and won’t ask for the salary cap to be abolished until the end of the collective bargaining agreement they’re working on.

Both sides expect the negotiations to be difficult. Stern said his relationship with Gourdine, a former NBA deputy commissioner, would have no effect on the contract talks.

“Simon can be a difficult SOB, OK?” Stern said.

Gourdine laughed when told of Stern’s characterization.

“I will simply say, same to you, David,” Gourdine said.

There was an interruption in the negotiations Friday. Stern had to catch a plane to Los Angeles to see the Lakers play the San Antonio Spurs, then go to Chicago to see Jordan. Gourdine would watch the games on TV.

After all, the show must go on. And in the NBA, that’s business as usual.

So where does the NBA go from here? The passport is the limit. There are already league offices in Toronto, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Geneva and Melbourne.

The NBA is expanding into Canada beginning next season with new teams in Vancouver and Toronto, whose presence was underlined by Stern as transforming the NBA into “a North American League.”

He said the NBA is looking into continuing exhibition games in Mexico City, and the NBA champion will play in London.

Stern, as usual never underestimating the remote control, was in Toronto Wednesday to help with the announcement of an NBA television deal with CTV, the Canadian television network.

The ‘90s are in full swing, which makes the ‘80s long gone, even if they are looked upon fondly as the NBA’s Golden Years. And if that’s what they really were, after the Golden Years, what’s next?

“The Global Years,” Stern said.

The world may not be a basketball yet, but if it ever starts looking like one, Michael Jordan probably will be dribbling it.