Regarding the NBA’s next media rights deal, business appears to be picking up.
According to Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend, the league has entered its exclusive negotiating window with current partners Disney and Turner. The window began on Saturday and runs through April 22, with the three sides reportedly already in 75 percent agreement on a new deal based on the preliminary discussions that have taken place.
Despite previous speculation that the In-Season Tournament — now known as the Emirates NBA Cup — could be headed to a streamer such as Netflix or Apple, Friend reports that the event is expected to be bundled into the Turner and Disney packages. Amazon is expected to remain a contender to pursue the league’s national streaming rights when the current exclusive negotiating window with Turner and Disney concludes next month. At the same time, Apple could be a player for the SoFi Play-In Tournament or another singular league event.
In addition to Turner and ESPN, NBC is expected to receive a portion of the league’s linear rights package. In total, NBA executives believe the new rights package will be valued between $60 billion and $72 billion, at least 2.5 times as much as the nine-year, $24 billion deal the league signed with Turner and Disney in 2014.
While the league is currently focused on its negotiations with Turner and Disney — which will shape how much remains available for the other potential rightsholders — Amazon’s presence looms large after the commerce giant invested $100 million in the Diamond Sports Group in January. According to Friend, “negotiations after April 22 are expected to formalize how many local broadcasts will be lost to Amazon and whether the deal with Amazon will be lucrative enough to appease individual teams.”
The NBA’s media rights negotiations are expected to be completed in June or July.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.