The National Basketball Association (NBA) continues to make efforts to increase its global appeal, but it remains a beast at home. That showed once again when it reportedly finalised an 11-year broadcast deal with NBC, Amazon Prime Video and ABC/ESPN for $76 billion.
NBC and Amazon Prime Video will become new partners, while Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports, which had a package since 1984 and has shown league games since the network launched in 1989. TNT Sports could not reach a deal during its exclusive negotiating period, which expired in April.
ESPN, which could not reach an agreement before its exclusive period ended in April, would not budge on relinquishing any portion of the finals. The NBA agreed to exclusively keep the finals on ABC/ESPN, but that came with an annual bill of $2.6 billion.
NBC is expected to pay $2.5 billion per season and Amazon $1.8 billion for a total broadcast deal of $6.9 billion every year for the next 11 years. The agreement will come into effect starting the 2025-26 season.
The nine-year agreement that was signed with ESPN and TNT Sports in 2015, fetches NBA a total of $2.67 billion per season, making it the world’s second-richest deal for domestic rights.
The current deal marks a 165 percent jump in broadcast revenue for the NBA. The earlier nine-year, 24-billion deal was an improvement by almost 300 percent over the previous agreement.
The NBA is expected to announce the deal before the Paris Olympics starts on July 26. According to The Athletic, the finished contract will be approved by the board of governors meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday and sent to TNT Sports.
Once TNT Sports receives the final contract, it would have five days to match. There is a talk in the market that Warner Bros Discovery is expected to match the final terms of Amazon. David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, has indicated in the past that TNT Sports may attempt to remain involved with the NBA.
NBA’s viewership trends highlighted
According to the Associated Press, regular-season games on ESPN/ABC and TNT averaged 1.6 million viewers for the third straight season. The Christmas Day matchup between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers drew 5.01 million viewers – the highest viewership for a regular-season match in 20023-24. Celtics, the defending NBA champions, will be seen in action in Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena later this year as part of their preseason. The most successful franchise in NBA history (18 titles, one more than LA Lakers) will take on Denver Nuggets in two matches on October 4 and 6.
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