The NBA opened the exclusive negotiation window with Disney and TNT Sports before the league’s media rights agreement expires following the 2025 season. Interesting notes from a report from Sports Business Journal reveal the potential broadcasting home of the Emirates NBA Cup, formerly the In-Season Tournament, the Play-In Round, and more.
SBJ’s Tom Friend reports that negotiations between the NBA and its two existing broadcast partners are about 75 percent there. Among the new wrinkles could be the NBA Cup being split amongst ESPN and TNT Sports platforms, where many expected Amazon, Apple, or Netflix to step in and acquire rights to a portion of the contest. While Amazon and Apple may not be in play for the NBA Cup, they may still be in play for different NBA options.
According to Friend, Amazon has its eyes on the league’s national streaming rights, while Apple will pursue a “mystery” event, which Friend says could be a bid for the SoFi Play-In Tournament or some sort of singular NBA event, like a Christmas Day game or something in the vein of the NHL’s Winter Classic — a regular season game with additional levels of flair added to it.
There may also be a third broadcast partner in play — NBC. Friend suggests NBC could take a portion of the NBA national broadcasting rights depending on what Disney and TNT Sports’ deals look like. We speculated that CBS could be a potential destination for the NBA due to its existing basketball portfolio and a new NBA-themed podcast. However, NBC presents a sentimental pick for NBA fans of a certain age who want to hear Roundball Rock once more and offers the same level of digital presence as CBS with their Peacock streaming app.
NBA team execs believe a final overall NBA media rights deal will be worth between $60 and $72B — 2.5 to 3 times larger than its previous arrangement in 2014. However, local rights fees may take a hit. Friend explains:
“One of the more complex aspects of the deal will be the juxtaposition between Amazon’s expected streaming rights deal and local team broadcasts. Franchises value local rights fees — even though the Diamond bankruptcy has led to a 16% reduction in fees for the 15 Bally Sports teams this season — and negotiations after April 22 are expected to formalize how many local broadcasts will be lost to Amazon and whether the deal with Amazon will be lucrative enough to appease individual teams.”
