The National Basketball Association revealed its complete regular season schedule yesterday, an 82-game slate that includes an inaugural in-season tournament. ESPN and TNT will combine to present 41 games featuring the Golden State Warriors, putting the team on top in terms of nationally-televised contests. Nikola Jokić and the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets have 30 games on national television, while LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have 40.
During a YouTube exclusive segment of First Take earlier this week, ESPN Radio personality Amber Wilson was asked by host Molly Qerim whether or not fans will care about the NBA In-Season Tournament. Wilson replied by expressing that she was not sure if $500,000 would be enough prize money to make the players want to compete and win, but recognized that having the games count toward the regular season record could incentivize the proceedings. Additionally, she also advocated for the NBA to shorten the regular season to 60 games, a move that would require significant renegotiation as it pertains to media rights.
“This is the NBA finding a way – or trying to find a way anyways – to make these regular season games actually matter and the eyeballs actually go to the screens so they can get more revenue,” Wilson said. “This is all about television rights.”
Wilson pointed to the WNBA as proof of such with its Commissioner’s Cup, which the league started awarding during the 2021 season. Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty took home the trophy earlier this week after defeating the Las Vegas Aces as the league’s television audience was up 67% year-over-year at the halfway point of the season.
“That’s what they’re trying to do here in the NBA,” Wilson said. “I don’t hate the idea. I know Adam Silver has been watching the soccer model over in Europe for a very long time.”
Qerim followed up with Wilson to confirm whether or not she believed playing less games would facilitate more interest in the Association as a whole, to which she and Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo both concurred. The NBA garnered an estimated combined revenue of more than $10 billion during the season before last, and currently receives more than $2.5 billion annually in its media rights deal.
“That’s the way to do it,” Wilson said. “They’re just trying to find a way around it any way they can because less games means less money.”
The league’s national media rights contract with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) expires at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has spoken publicly about granting the league more of a digital presence while maintaining a linear component.
Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ are expected to be involved in the bidding for a share of the rights, while Disney and WBD Sports both expressed interest in retaining the rights. ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus recently divulged in an interview that keeping the NBA Finals is a “must-have” in any negotiation.
