A report from Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal says while things are starting to become clearer on the first two media rights partnerships for the NBA, the third could come down to the way lawyers and courts interpret the matching rights Warner Bros. Discovery has in their current agreement.
Disney/ESPN is believed to be wrapping up a $2.6 billion per year agreement while Amazon is reportedly going to sign a deal priced at $1.8 billion annually. Both deals are expected to be for ten years. Friend’s report says his sources are saying NBCUniversal is in the driver’s seat with a $2.5 billion annual offer and that if Warner Bros. Discovery simply matches the money, the league will not see that as an equal match with NBC being an over-the-air network, something WBD does not have to offer. The report suggests WBD would have to overpay by as much as $300 million more per year for the league to see it as even.
“There’s no mystery to this,” the source told Friend. “It’s pretty blatant what’s happening. David Zaslav realizes he has to have this and doesn’t want to pay more than $2.5B. And Adam’s saying, honestly, it’s not matched at $2.5. And [Zaslav] goes, ‘Yes, it is,’ and they’re going back and forth.’ And so that’s where we are. How do you let [WBD] down? Is there a way? Or does Zaslav come up with more money? Because then it doesn’t have to be matching because David’s paid more.
“And that’s where we are. Adam’s trying to be nice to David right now until David backs off his dogs. He’s trying to help David save face.’’
Earlier this week, reports said Amazon is likely to end up with its own Saturday night slate of games as well as the NBA’s In-Season Tournament and the postseason play-in games, plus a conference finals series every other year as well as some additional playoff games in earlier rounds. Part of the Disney/ESPN package includes the NBA Finals each year of the agreement.
