NBA’s New Broadcast Deals with ESPN, Prime Video, NBC Likely to Be Finalized This Week

The NBA appears poised to announce that it’s officially leaving TNT. That’s according to Sports Business Journal which reported Wednesday that the Association is gearing up to formalize its new national broadcasting deal this week and that its partners will be ESPN, Amazon’s Prime Video, and NBC, which has seemingly pulled off a major upset by swiping the package of games formerly held by Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports. It’s a transformational deal for the league and one that leaves WBD with many more questions than answers.

Key Details:

• ESPN has retained exclusive NBA Finals rights, and will pay $2.8 billion per season for the NBA’s “A” package.
• NBC will take over the “B” package, with two primetime windows per week and playoff rights for $2.6 billion.
• Prime Video snags the newly-created “C” package with regular season games, the In-Season Tournament, play-in games, and more for at least $1.8 billion.

SBJ reports that the league has climbed past the $7 billion-per-season mark with its three new broadcasting agreements. ESPN will pay the most, shelling out $2.8 billion (up from a previously reported $2.6 billion) to retain exclusive rights to the NBA Finals, one conference finals series per year, primetime games each week, a portion of WNBA rights, and international rights. This comprises the NBA’s “A” package and constitutes a $1.3 billion-per-season fee increase.

The “B” package will move from TNT to NBC and Peacock, which will offer two primetime windows per week during the regular season. There is currently no word on whether those two windows will be on different days or back-to-back on a single night. However, after the NFL season ends, NBC would offer a “Basketball Night in America” event each Sunday night, and will also get a conference semifinals series and a conference finals series every other season. NBC will pay $2.6 billion for this package, after previously offering $2.5 billion to swipe these games from WBD.

The “C” package goes to Prime Video and will include a rotating conference finals series in the seasons that NBC does not have one. Prime Video will also get rights to the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament, play-in games that decide the final playoff teams each season, international rights, and some WNBA games as well. Prime Video will pay between $1.8 billion and $2 billion per season for this parcel.

Is Warner Bros. Discovery Officially Out?

Nothing will be official for WBD until contracts are actually signed, but SBJ reports that the last few wrinkles in the three contracts are nearly ironed out. Once that process is complete, the league will bring its finished deal with NBC to WBD and offer Warner the chance to match, as it’s contractually obligated to do.

As has been reported, the NBA is not going to consider simple dollar-for-dollar equity an actual match on WBD’s part. It would have to meet what the NBA thinks is the “total value” of NBC’s offer, providing the same ad revenue and broadcast windows, in addition to rights fees, in order to keep the NBA on TNT.

The league reportedly views that as highly unlikely, and is preparing its legal teams in case WBD tries to sue over the definition of what constitutes a “matching offer.” WBD’s lack of an over-the-air broadcasting network has hurt it in negotiations, and now it faces the choice of having to overpay for the “B” package or see one of its most popular programming staples depart its already-swooning linear business.

In addition, SBJ offers additional details on how WBD got itself into this situation. Company CEO David Zaslav, who boasted confidently in 2022 that his company didn’t “have to have the NBA,” thought he would only have to pay between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion per season for the “B” package; still a big increase over the previous deal, but not approaching the $2.6 billion that NBC is willing to offer. He reportedly outright refused to double his yearly payments to $2.4 billion or more, and that’s why the “B” package hit the open market after an exclusive negotiating window between the NBA and WBD lapsed without a deal earlier this spring.

If true, it will be one of the biggest black eyes for Zaslav in his tenure as WBD’s chief executive. His brashness and oft-dismissive tone in regard to criticism have been more or less tolerated because of the difficult task he faced after the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2022, as the newly formed company had a mountain of debt and serious cash-flow issues. Zaslav has guided the company as it attempts to make the difficult transition from linear to digital entertainment, and has even gotten his streaming segment to show a modest profit.

Losing the NBA would undoubtedly diminish all of those accomplishments, however, particularly in light of the brazen attitude Zaslav displayed on the subject two years ago. Now, he’ll have to go back to the drawing board and figure out which other marquee sports rights to chase, since he’ll have a little extra cash on hand and some programming windows to fill after the NBA’s departure.