The NBA Finals start on Thursday, as the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Indiana Pacers. It’s a meeting of two small-market teams. That’s not a great recipe for TV ratings, but there are some upsides for pro basketball.

The fact that teams from two of the smaller media markets in the 30-team NBA made it to the Finals is largely thanks to the league’s salary cap. 

“The salary cap puts a limit on the amount teams can pay the players. It also puts a floor on the bottom that teams can pay,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor emeritus at Smith College.

Which, he said, means that teams in big cities with wealthier fan bases can’t just buy their way to a championship. 

“There's the reassertion of very strong competitive balance. And I think that's uplifting for fans around the league, especially those who are not in the largest markets,” Zimbalist said.

Plus, it doesn’t matter all that much to the NBA which teams make it to the Finals, because the league has contracts locked in with TV networks and streaming services for the next eleven years.

“So regardless of which teams were going to take off in this matchup, the amount of money that would be generated from media rights was already designated,” said Alicia Jessop, a professor at Pepperdine University.

The downside, Jessop said, is the teams and league might not make as much ticket revenue, compared to selling seats in, say, New York or Los Angeles. 

And if ratings are low, companies might not want to shell out as much for future sponsorships deals.