Here Is Where The NBA Broadcast Negotiations Stand
The NBA's current media rights deals with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery expire after the 2024-25 season. The league is in the final stages of agreeing to new deals that would span at least a decade.
The NBA hopes to triple the $24 billion in broadcast revenue it generated from its current deal. In doing so, the league plans to increase its number of partners from two to three.
Those plans are starting to take shape. The NBA has agreed to frameworks with two of three partners – the two being Disney and Amazon. Though we caution, the deals are not finalized.
Indiana Pacers PG Tyrese Haliburton gets a layup vs. the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the 1st round in the 2024 NBA playoffs at Fiserv Forum in Wisconsin. (Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports)
ESPN/ABC will retain the "A" package, which includes the NBA Finals and one conference final each season. However, as previously reported, Disney wanted to trim its slate of regular-season broadcasts to avoid an exorbitant increase in fees.
Thus, ESPN will continue airing the NBA on Wednesday nights but shed its Friday night doubleheader, a package it has aired since the 2002-03 season.
The futures of ABC's Saturday and Sunday packages are contingent upon how deals with other partners shake out. Puck News reported Monday that Amazon is seeking a Saturday night window during the regular season, the window ABC currently owns.
In addition, Amazon expects to own the rights to the In-Season Tournament, Play-in Tournament, and the non-ESPN conference final every other year.
That leaves a third and final package, for which NBC and TNT continue to battle.
NBC plans to offer the NBA $2.5 billion a year. TNT has the right to match the offer, but doubling its annual investment in the NBA (TNT currently pays $1.2 billion a year) conflicts with parent company Warner Bros. Discovery's mission to cut costs.
The winner of the TNT-NBC cage match will carry the non-ESPN conference final during the years Amazon does not (every other year), All-Star Weekend, several playoff series and weekly regular season matchups.
NBC prefers airing regular season games Sundays, while TNT prefers to retain Tuesday and/or Thursday nights. NBC’s package also would include games on Peacock.
Charles Barkley – who says he will opt out of his TNT contract should the network lose the NBA – said he expected a resolution on the NBC/TNT battle by last Friday. There wasn't one.
Talks with both networks continue.
Thoughts?