There’s a lot of uncertainty about where the NBA’s national TV rights will go following the expiration of their current deals with Disney/ABC/ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT. Those deals both run through the 2024-25 NBA season, and both companies have expressed some interest in renewing them. But both of those companies have also made noise about being budget-conscious, and there are believed to be plenty of other potential suitors in the works as well. So that’s some notable context for ESPN NBA analyst Doris Burke’s appearance on the Front Office Sports Today podcast Friday, in which she said she’s hoping that company keeps NBA rights going forward, but she recognizes that that may not be a sure thing:
Doris Burke has broadcasted NBA games on ESPN since 2003 — and she wants it to stay that way.@heydb joins FOS Today to discuss the future of the NBA on ESPN and what the league means to her.
(🎧: @NetSuite) https://t.co/K7Gbd7OIuW
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 14, 2023
“I love what I do on a nightly basis. I’m pulling like hell for ESPN to extend that contract. But I also know, you know, the New York Post recently came out with a story documenting that we can expect layoffs. I’ve lived through it once. And it’s not easy. Business is business. You’re hoping and pulling for us to do the right things to get the contract renewed. But I’ll say this to you; I’m optimistic we get it, but until we sign that contract, I take nothing for granted.”
As FOS notes there, Burke has called NBA games on ESPN since 2003. She’s been with the company overall since 1991 (working on Big East men’s and women’s games, WNBA games, and more before that). And many have tabbed her as a potential ESPN/ABC lead analyst one day, including lead play-by-play voice Mike Breen back in 2018. So it definitely makes sense that she would like ESPN to keep the NBA, especially as she signed a multi-year extension with the company last year. (It’s unclear how long that runs for though; it may only run through the conclusion of their current NBA deal, or maybe not even that far. And many on-air personalities have various levels of available outs if a network loses rights to the sport they primarily work on, so there isn’t necessarily a world where Burke is prevented from calling the NBA elsewhere even if she winds up with a deal stretching beyond 2024-25 and ESPN does not retain rights.)
In terms of if ESPN will wind up keeping the NBA, that’s up for debate. Many outsiders, including WWE CEO Nick Khan (a former top figure in the media rights world as the head of television at CAA), have projected them hanging on to NBA rights and perhaps even adding some, potentially even All-Star Weekend. And their own executive comments have been pretty high on the value of the NBA, even after questions about how much they paid in this last go-round, and they’ve been more encouraging than what we’ve sometimes seen from WBD (although that’s come with some walkbacks). But the next NBA contracts are set to be very expensive, and there are many parties interested. So it’s far from clear they will hang on there. But it’s clear Burke would like them to.
[Front Office Sports on Apple Podcasts; photo from Allen Kee / ESPN Images]
