One day after a report surfaced naming YouTube as the front-runner to land a future NBA local broadcast hub planned to launch prior to the 2027-28 season, ESPN is making sure its intentions are known as well.
At an event hosted by CNBC and Boardroom on Thursday, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said his network is interested in hosting a centralized local broadcast product for the NBA and any other league that is looking towards a similar solution. Per The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov, Pitaro said: “We’ve made our intentions very clear with with every league, including the NBA, that we want to be part of the solution here.”
ESPN is interested in NBA’s centralized local broadcast package. Jimmy Pitaro said, at CNBC/Boardroom event, he wants ESPN to help fix local TV issue.
“We’ve made our intentions very clear with with every league, including the NBA, that we want to be part of the solution here.”
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) July 16, 2026
CNBC’s Alex Sherman, who interviewed Pitaro at the event, added that ESPN did not know anything about YouTube’s discussions with the NBA and that the network would also be open to a non-exclusive product shared with another partner.
Jimmy Pitaro tells me on stage at Game Plan that he doesn’t know anything about YouTube talking to the NBA about a local rights streaming product and reiterated ESPN is very interested and would do a non-exclusive product with another partner(s)
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) July 16, 2026
The Sports Business Journal report initially tying YouTube to the future hub indicated that any product would likely coexist with Prime Video’s NBA League Pass. The local broadcast hub would offer in-market fans access to their local team’s games, while League Pass would continue to offer out-of-market fans an option to view games outside of their local team. It’s unclear if this is what Pitaro is referring to when he says ESPN would do a “non-exclusive product,” or if there are other possibilities in mind.
There are reasonably at least 22 teams that would welcome the NBA’s aggregated local broadcast hub: the 13 teams formerly under contract with the now-defunct FanDuel Sports Networks, the four teams still on deals with NBC Sports RSNs, and the five teams that were on over-the-air deals prior to this offseason. Of course, the more teams the NBA can bring on board, the more valuable the product would be to a streamer.
MLB, for instance, is looking to centralize local broadcast rights (and associated revenue) for all 30 of its clubs as part of a major overhaul to its collective bargaining agreement, including the implementation of a salary cap and salary floor. This year, ESPN began licensing MLB’s out-of-market product, MLB.TV, on its new direct-to-consumer app. The network has a similar arrangement with the NHL, though those out-of-market games are included with ESPN Unlimited, while MLB.TV requires an additional subscription.
Suffice it to say, ESPN is serious about its desire to become a go-to destination for local sports broadcasts. Pitaro’s public comments are good news for the NBA, which seems to have itself a bidding war brewing among some heavy hitters in sports media.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.