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As the NBA Playoffs begin this week, it’s been a great start for the league. Star players and exciting teams have played some thrilling games and the ratings have delivered. The league saw its most watched opening weekend in 12 years led by the Kings-Warriors primetime showdown last Saturday.
It’s not a bad time for the league to start flexing its muscles when it comes to its next media contract. And interestingly enough, discussion about the NBA’s next rights deal is percolating.
Warner Bros. Discovery has gone back and forth publicly over their need to keep the NBA as part of its broadcast family. ESPN’s Doris Burke shared her desire for Bristol to hold onto their NBA package. And Richard Deitsch at The Athletic detailed why the NBA might look away from their longtime partners at TNT towards more national distribution and exposure for the league. And both networks know the NBA’s value to whatever carriage fees they are still able to collect.
As we sit here in April 2023, the NBA couldn’t ask for more leverage in negotiations. Live sports continue to be at a premium, networks are looking to boost their inventory on streaming platforms, and tons of cash is being splashed around.
If you’re in the prediction business and are looking for the best odds on where the NBA might land, here’s how it could go. Given Turner’s long-standing partnership with the league and their investment in NBATV and the league’s media operations, it’d be tough to leave that behind. Likewise, the NBA helps carry ESPN’s day-to-day conversation so much outside the NFL that they have to be favorites to keep their package including the NBA Finals.
Enter two new partners – NBC and Amazon. NBC picks up a Sunday Night Basketball game of the week from February-April, which creates a great synergy with Sunday Night Football as well as some playoff games up until the conference finals. Amazon picks up the traditional Thursday Night doubleheader from TNT (more synergy!) after the NFL regular season in addition to being the home of the NBA’s new in-season tournament. (More on that below.)
Theoretically, you could have the NBA on six nights a week during the latter half of the year – NBC Sunday, TNT Tuesday, ESPN Wednesday, Amazon Thursday, ESPN Friday, and even ABC Saturday if the NBA can get two primetime packages. It would be the best of all worlds for the NBA – new invested partners, increased exposure, a mix of streaming and broadcast, and a whole lot of money.
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