<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Hawks have made it hard to be an NBA fan in Atlanta. They have been here for 38 years without winning ? or even playing for ? a league championship. They haven't made the playoffs ? or even had a winning season ? in seven years. The city has responded by turning away, putting the Hawks near the bottom of the league in attendance for the past decade. And yet Dominique Wilkins, the former Hawks star, says: "I think Atlanta is a good NBA town that can become a great NBA town." That contention might seem far-fetched if you've seen Philips Arena on one of its half-empty nights. But there are strong arguments, too, that an NBA town does exist amidst the Hawks' rubble: ? TV ratings. The NBA scores high with Atlanta TV viewers. For the 2005 NBA Finals, Atlanta posted the highest TV rating of any market without a home-state team participating; for the 2006 Finals, Atlanta had the third highest rating among non-participant markets. Atlanta tunes in to the earlier postseason rounds, too: For last season's playoffs, the city had the 11th highest cable rating among the 57 major markets ? the highest of any market without a participating team except Las Vegas. Last year's All-Star Game drew a higher rating in Atlanta than all but three other markets. And for regular-season games on TNT the past two seasons, Atlanta's ratings were 12th and 16th highest, respectively, among the top 57 markets.</div> Source
They just have to bring credibility back to the franchise. The fact that the tv ratings are good shows they care about basketball. How much losing cans fan take? They have to turn their back sometime
shhiiiiiiit, it's just a waste going to a game knowing they'll lose. I lived in atlanta, they love basketball, but they dislike the Hawks.
