The NBA has agreed to a new national television deal with the Walt Disney Company (which airs games on ESPN and ABC), NBC Universal and Amazon, the league announced Wednesday. The 11-year deal is worth a $76 billion, per the Associated Press. The nine-year, $24 billion deal that the NBA currently has -- which airs games nationally on ESPN/ABC and TNT -- expires at the end of the 2024-25 season. This new deal will kick in for the 2025-26 campaign and run through the 2035-36 season.
Here are some details of the new agreement:
- NBA Finals games will remain on ABC. ABC/ESPN will also air one of the two conference finals series in 10 of the 11 years in the deal. Christmas Day games as well as marquee Saturday and Sunday games in the regular season will remain on ABC/ESPN. ABC/ESPN will air approximately 18 games in the first two rounds of the postseason each year.
- NBC will air one of the conference finals series in six of the 11 years of the deal. NBC is also getting coverage of the All-Star Game, NBA All-Star Saturday night, opening night and Sunday night primetime games. NBC and/or Peacock will air approximately 28 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs each season, and half or more of those games will be broadcast on NBC.
- Amazon will air one of the conference finals series in six of the 11 years of the deal. Amazon's Prime Video is set to stream NBA Cup games as well as Play-In Tournament games. Prime Video will stream approximately one-third of the first and second postseason rounds each year.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT, is not part of the new NBA broadcasting deal. Turner first began broadcasting NBA games in 1989 and has been a partner ever since. Since 1990, TNT has hosted the popular pre- and post-game show Inside the NBA, which currently stars Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal. Next season will now presumably be the final year of Inside the NBA in its current incarnation.
The company was attempting to retain its NBA media rights, but in a statement, the NBA said Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of Amazon's offer.
"Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans," the NBA said. "Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements. All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience.
"We are grateful to Turner Sports for its award-winning coverage of the NBA and look forward to another season of the NBA on TNT."
TNT responded on Wednesday, saying saying it "does not believe the NBA can reject" the offer. "We think they have grossly misinterpreted out contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action," TNT said in a statement.
TNT Sports' statement on NBA media rights: pic.twitter.com/9L3fiFXoDH
— TNT Sports U.S. PR (@TNTSportsUS) July 24, 2024
In total, this new deal will multiply the NBA's annual national media revenue by roughly 2.6 times. The last time the NBA experienced such a jump came in 2016, when the salary cap spiked by roughly 34%. That won't happen so quickly this time, as new league rules mandate that the cap cannot increase by more than 10% per year. However, the widespread expectation is that with this new deal, the cap will rise by 10% annually for the foreseeable future starting in the 2025 offseason.
"Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in a statement. "These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade."
Forbes estimates that the 30 NBA teams combined to earn roughly $10.6 billion in 2023. National television revenue represents the biggest slice of that pie. Now, that revenue will nearly triple. The NBA has never been in a healthier place financially. Franchise values and player salaries are skyrocketing, and this deal ensures that the league will continue to grow for more than a decade to come.
The WNBA has also agreed to "landmark" deals with Disney, Amazon and NBC Universal that will run from 2026 through 2036 and include at least 125 national televised broadcasts per season. Disney will continue to broadcast All-Star events, while Amazon will remain the rights holder for the Commissioner's Cup championship game. The playoffs will be broken down as follows, per the WNBA's press release:
"Disney will telecast two first-round series per year while NBCU and Prime Video will each telecast one first-round series annually. The semifinals and Finals series will rotate over the 11-year term, with Disney distributing eight semifinals series and five Finals, and Prime Video and NBCU each distributing seven Semifinals series and three Finals."
