The last year has seen Warner Bros. Discovery doing one thing and saying another when it comes to their relationship with sports. And the latest comments from WBD CEO David Zaslav and TNT Sports chairman Luis Silberwasser are another sign that the company may not know whether they are zigging or zagging.
It all started with the incredible drama of the end of the NBA on TNT after a fruitful, popular, decades-long relationship and the constant mixed signals sent by Zaslav throughout the process.
All the way back in 2022, Zaslav said that Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t need the NBA. But when the NBA chose to walk away and link up with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon in their next contracts, the company sued to try to keep hold of their television rights. After that lawsuit was settled and the NBA was gone for good, Zaslav put back on his rose colored glasses and said that losing NBA rights was “a great decision.” If it was such a great decision, why file a lawsuit to try to reverse it?
While the ins and outs of the WBD/TNT relationship with the NBA are incredibly confusing, what happens next with the company’s relationship with sports looks like something from Inception.
On an earnings call last month, Zaslav emphasized the importance of WBD’s entertainment properties and portfolios and dismissed the need to acquire more live sports properties. And although not named explicitly, he also threw some shade at competitors like NBC and Peacock, who are making sports a key tentpole of their streaming platforms.
“We don’t need any more sports anywhere in the world in order to support our business, we would buy sports in order to if we think it would enhance our business. And it’s going to get more difficult. You know, some of those prices being paid, and some of the competitors are opting to go to sports instead of doing what we do.”
So it would seem that WBD is slowly moving out of the sports business, right? Think again.
In a podcast appearance with Puck’s John Ourand, TNT Sports CEO Luis Silberwasser openly expressed interest in two of the few sports properties coming to market with the UFC and Formula 1 and acquiring those new contracts.
“We like both,” Silberwasser told Ourand. “UFC is a fantastic property and has piqued our interest. Formula One, as well. Given our experience with sports internationally, we know the passion for Formula One. And we know that in this market, it has grown and it has great potential as well.”
It’s NFL Draft season, so smoke screens are all around us. But the folks at TNT Sports must be suffocating from smoke inhalation given all of these comments swirling around them.
It would make sense for the TNT Sports CEO to be interested in more live sports, but there’s no sense of alignment here in what WBD wants for its sports outlet, for now or for the future. Could you imagine the headlines if Jimmy Pitaro and Bob Iger gave totally conflicting takes on Disney’s approach to sports with ESPN?
WBD’s live sports portfolio is looking more and more like Peter Griffin’s version of the Six Million Dollar Man.
There’s the NHL and MLB, which are decent long-term commitments. But beyond that, there’s a little March Madness here, a pinch of US Soccer there, a launch of Unrivaled, renting College Football Playoff games, Mountain West football, oh, and French Open tennis. And now TNT may want to add UFC and F1 to that list? Do those properties actually fit with what an overall strategy for how WBD moves forward with sports? Or are they looking for the quickest rebound possible after their divorce with the NBA?
It’s understandable that a company like Warner Bros. Discovery might need a minute to figure out its future after going through a seismic event like losing the NBA. You could understand that it may take some time for corporate synergy to come together and everyone to start marching to the beat of the same drum. But this divergent messaging extends all the way back to Zaslav’s original comments about the NBA years ago and still seems to exist today.
ESPN knows what it wants — big events that cost a premium but deliver viewers. NBC is going all-in on sports to help bolster Peacock. Fox has been committed to the power of linear television, even as they prepare to launch their own streaming service. And CBS has held steady with major packages they have held for years. Even The CW is starting to make inroads with smaller sports properties.
In the famous words of Yogi Berra, if WBD and TNT Sports don’t know where they are going, they will end up someplace else.
