An interesting trend we’ve seen with several rights deals recently is broadcasters being willing to cut back on regular-season inventory. It looks like the next place that will happen is with ESPN’s upcoming NBA deal. Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal reported Friday that the network looks set to pick up expanded international and digital rights in their coming deal (which will begin in the 2025-26 season), but will be sacrificing some regular-season games compared to what they currently have:
In some Friday news, ESPN gave up NBA regular-season games for international, digital rights ahead of its 2025 DTC launch. Disney’s NBA deal is done – just waiting on other players to wrap negotiations. Deal includes WNBA rights as well https://t.co/23XCszxO9x via @sbj
— mollie cahillane (@MollieCahillane) June 28, 2024
Here’s more from Cahillane’s SBJ piece:
ESPN’s impending media rights deal with the NBA will include an increased international and digital package timed perfectly with the network’s direct-to-consumer flagship property that is set to launch in 2025, sources close to negotiations said Friday.
Those sources confirmed that for ESPN to secure those international and digital rights, the company needed to concede some regular-season games once the new media rights deal begins in the 2025-26 season. That means Disney will broadcast fewer regular-season matchups in the next deal so the NBA can secure its other two packages with NBCUniversal and Amazon. However, sources said ESPN does not view the concession as “really meaningful.” ESPN aired 77 games on the cable network during the 2023-24 regular season (including nine as part of the In-Season Tournament). ABC aired 24 regular-season games (only one of those was part of the IST).
Cahillane notes that the overall NBA deals (which look set to also be with NBC and Amazon) appear set to close in the next few weeks, and amount to $76 billion for the league. The NBA is expected to get $2.6 billion per season from ESPN for the top package (including the Finals exclusively and one conference final each year), $2.5 billion per season from NBC for the second package, and $1.8 billion per season from Amazon for a third package. It’s understandable why ESPN’s regular-season game totals might get reduced in the shift from two packages (the league was previously with them and WBD) to three, and it’s notable to see some reporting on what ESPN is getting to make up for that. (Exactly what they’ll get on the international and digital side isn’t yet clear, so that will be something to keep an eye on going forward.)
A big reason why these deals haven’t yet been fully announced involves WBD. That company has claimed they have a right to match other offers (possibly from NBC or Amazon), but there’s been skepticism on that from some, and the NBA appears to also believe they can’t “match.” But the dispute there means this could wind up with some litigation, so it makes sense that everyone involved is spending time to fine-tune the language of these deals. Still, the ESPN portion of this in particular does appear all but set here, and it’s interesting to see that now coming with less regular-season games (similar to what the company also recently did with MLB), but with those expanded digital and international rights.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.