NBC Appears to Be Closing in on NBA Deal; Will Warner Bros. Discovery Sue to Keep Rights?
A new report indicates sources in the sports and media world are increasingly convinced the NBA is about to depart TNT.
So will there be a new version of “Roundball Rock,” or will NBC just dust off the John Tesh original starting in 2025? That decision could be on the minds of Comcast executives these days, as they attempt to win a package of NBA rights in the basketball league’s next national broadcasting deal. The company has lodged a $2.5 billion per year bid for a bundle that would include regular season and playoff games, but it has to worry about a challenge from Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been broadcasting NBA games for nearly 35 years. A new report from the Sports Business Journal reveals that NBC is currently in the lead NBA’s third parcel of games, and details how messy the fight between the two contenders just might get.
Key Details:
- Media and sports analysts are increasingly of the opinion that NBC will beat out WBD and win the third package of NBA games.
- WBD has the right to match any bid from NBC and could sue if the Association tries to leave TNT behind.
- ESPN and Amazon have already agreed to deal frameworks with the NBA for its other two packages of games.
According to sources that spoke with SBJ, NBC has the inside track to securing the NBA’s last outstanding group of games. They say that unless WBD CEO David Zaslav is willing to cough up as much as $2.8 billion per season for a smaller package of games than the company got in 2023-24, the Association will be on its way to NBC and Peacock starting in 2025-26.
WBD could be banking on the fact that it has the contractual right to match any bid by Comcast, but SBJ reports that the NBA won’t consider a simple dollar-for-dollar match as a sufficiently equitable deal. Since Comcast owns an over-the-air (OTA) broadcast network and is offering multiple broadcast windows each week, the league does not view WBD’s cable-only option as providing the same value. In other words, WBD simply matching Comcast’s financial terms won’t be considered a “matching offer” by the NBA.
“NBC has made their bid, and they’re not budging,” a media source told SBJ. “So it’s over, right? And Warner Bros. is saying, ‘We’ll match it,’ and (Commissioner Adam Silver) is probably saying: ‘It’s not matched.’”
The definition of what constitutes a matching offer could lead WBD to sue the NBA if it does end up pivoting to NBC despite financially equal offers. Then it would be at the mercy of the court to determine whether under the terms of its contract with the league, simply putting up the same amount of money as Comcast would constitute a matching offer.
The fate of the “Inside the NBA” crew has been much discussed as the possibility of the league departing TNT has grown. “Inside the NBA” is highly popular among basketball fans, but Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neil, and Kenny Smith won’t have any bearing on the league’s decision-making process.
“I think it’s the greatest show on television, but it didn’t cure cancer,’’ one unnamed source told SBJ. “Guess what else ended? ‘Sopranos’ is off the air. ‘Friends.’ ‘MASH.’ ‘Seinfeld.’ All great shows do come to an end. Sometimes it’s time to go.’’
How Did WBD Get to This Point?
If David Zaslav had a time machine, he would likely go back to 2022 and warn himself not to say that his company didn’t “have to have the NBA.” That quote is naturally being bandied about frequently nowadays, and one source told SBJ that Zaslav’s haughtiness could have led to a serious miscalculation regarding NBC’s willingness to steal the league’s rights.
“WB thought the league would never get that [$2.5 billion] price from NBC,” the source said. “They said, ‘Sure, go shopping.’ They shopped it, they got the price. And now David Zaslav goes, ‘We’re screwed.’”
WBD and ESPN emerged from their exclusive negotiating window in late April without having deals finalized. But the news that the NBA and ESPN had essentially agreed to terms broke soon after; ESPN and its corporate sibling ABC will keep exclusive rights to the NBA Finals each year, but surrender around half of their regular season games for a hefty per-season fee increase to $2.6 billion.
Prime Video was next to agree to a deal framework with the Association, pledging $1.8 billion per season for a package that includes regular season games, as well as rights to a conference final series every other season and additional playoff games. That left TNT’s existing package as the last unsold bundle in the contract, and now WBD finds itself in the bind of having to overpay or watch one of its programming crown jewels simply walk out the door.
“And that’s where we are,” the same source told SBJ. “Adam’s trying to be nice to David right now until David backs off his dogs. He’s trying to help David save face.’’
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