On one hand, the number of national TV games your team is awarded by ESPN/ABC and TNT is a sign of respect. The more you get, the more they respect you.
But on the other hand, I'm too old to be staying up till 9pm tipoffs every week. I've gotten quite used to every game tipping off at 7pm or thereabouts.
Still, I guess this really isn't about me, so that's all I'll say about that.
At 3pm today, the schedule will be released for the 2014-15 season, including the number of games slotted for TNT and ESPN/ABC, as well as NBA-TV. NBA-TV is kinda national, except its broadcasts to fewer TVs and uses local announcers.
In their heyday, the Suns got 25-30 national games prescheduled when the schedule was released.
Last year, the Suns got no games on TNT or ABC, and only 1 pre-scheduled for ESPN (though ESPN picked up 3 more in January and February).
The year before, it was 1 on TNT, 2 on ESPN.
This year? This year, the Suns promise to be an exciting team no matter what happens with the Eric Bledsoe situation. After signing Isaiah Thomas, there's no question that the Suns will be able to run, run, run and score a lot - and that's exactly what drives up ratings in non-local markets.