Local NBA rights are still hanging in the balance with Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy situation still ongoing without a resolution in sight. With deadlines being extended just days before the NBA regular season begins, it remains to be seen how the bulk of the league will air their games this season.
Some teams (namely the Suns and Jazz) have already moved to a new hybrid model of local over-the-air broadcasts with a streaming Direct to Consumer package. If that is indeed the new blueprint for teams moving forward, it’ll be a whole new world for how the league reaches fans and does business.
In Sunday’s Semafor Media newsletter, Max Tani texted Klutch Sports founder Rich Paul about his thoughts on the new streaming era and how it impacts player empowerment. Paul sees a future where players will have more power than ever before.
Via Semafor:
“This disruption is about player empowerment and player empowerment is about options. I saw all those takes about how Dame’s situation was the end of player empowerment. C’Mon. Just imagine how things change when each team is going DTC and competing for subscribers. You don’t think players gonna have more power if the future is about competing for eyeballs? How much more do you need a LeBron James or Draymond Green when you’re playing for subs? Not to mention working with them on other content.”
Paul’s comments are extremely relevant as one of the most important power brokers there are in today’s NBA. Given he represents some of the top superstars in the sport, it’s a vision into how this next streaming era could impact the NBA.
And if anything, Paul’s comments could lead one to think that positive changes are ahead on the horizon for fans. For starters, if other teams follow the Suns and Jazz model, games could be available on free over-the-air television in the local market and via a streaming package, making games more widely available than they have been at any time in recent history.
Second, if teams are “competing for subscribers” it provides some resistance to the idea of tanking. Every team should theoretically want to be competitive throughout the season or they would risk losing subscribers and thus one of their main sources of revenue.
Finally, if teams are producing their own content, those superstar players will be vital to create the kind of shoulder programming necessary that might serve as an extra incentive to get fans to pay for a subscription.
If there is some word of caution here, though, it’s that without the cash cow of regional sports networks, the entire league (and players) could be looking at a future where exponentially increasing streams of cash come to a screeching halt. If the money starts to dry up and it’s every subscriber, player, and team owner for themselves, the NBA world could become more volatile than ever.
[Semafor]
