WNBA’s Historic New Rights Deals with Disney, NBCUniversal, Amazon Finalized

The WNBA is ready for a big raise. The league has announced that it has agreed to terms on deals with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon to distribute its games starting in 2026 and continuing for the next 11 seasons. The agreements will see games distributed on broadcast and cable channels, as well as various streaming platforms. It mirrors the NBA’s new rights deals in terms of distribution partners, but it differs in that the WNBA still has the right to add up to two new partners to help it grow its audience even further.

Key Details:

• Previous reporting indicated the WNBA will make $200 million per season in the deal.
• NBCU platforms will get 50 regular season games each year, while 30 will play on Disney platforms and 30 more will appear on Prime Video.
• Semifinals and Finals series will rotate between partners over the course of the deal.

The new deal between the WNBA and its broadcast partners will pay $200 million per season, a hefty increase from the $60 million or so in annual fees the league currently collects. The league’s ratings have been steadily climbing in recent seasons, and now the introduction of young stars like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark have caused audience sizes to balloon even further. Helping the league to grow its audience will be two new expansion teams in the Bay Area and Toronto which will join the WNBA in coming seasons.

“Partnering with Disney, Amazon and NBCU marks a monumental chapter in WNBA history and clearly demonstrates the significant rise in value and the historic level of interest in women’s basketball,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “These agreements allow the league to continue to build a long-term and sustainable growth model for the future of women’s basketball and sports which will benefit WNBA players, teams and fans.”

As reported, the deal will allow the WNBA to sell up to two more rights packages. Current WNBA partners ION and CBS are not included in the new deal, but they could each wind up with a bundle of games going forward, which would help the league boost the overall value of the deal even further.

How Many WNBA Games Will Disney, NBCU, Amazon Get in the Deal?

The new agreement will see NBCU platforms get the most regular-season games. NBC, Peacock, and USA Network will combine to show at least 50 regular-season contests each year. In addition to the WNBA All-Star Game and WNBA Draft, ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC will distribute at least 25 regular-season games each year, which will also be available to stream on the forthcoming standalone ESPN streaming service. Prime Video will have 30 regular-season games each year, and will continue as the in-market broadcast partner of the Seattle Storm, in addition to keeping the rights to the annual Commissioner’s Cup tournament championship game.

Once the playoffs begin, Disney-owned platforms will get two first-round series each year, while NBCU and Prime Video will get one apiece. The Semifinal and Final rounds will rotate between the three providers; Disney will carry eight semifinal series and five Finals over the course of the deal, and Prime Video and NBCU each distribute seven semifinal series and three Finals. ESPN and ABC won the rights to exclusive NBA Finals distribution but indicated earlier this month that exclusivity wasn't necessarily a dealbreaker in the case of the WNBA.

The WNBA chose to stick with the NBA while negotiating these deals, which is why the two leagues agreed to contracts with the same broadcast partners. The WNBA had the option to split away from its partner league and negotiate deals of its own, but the figures offered during joint negotiations were apparently enough to keep it from doing so.

The new agreements should help the WNBA continue to grow its audience, and will likely bring the players a hefty raise in their next collective bargaining agreement. One dark horse to secure one of the two outstanding WNBA rights packages? Warner Bros. Discovery, is still deciding the best way to proceed in the wake of having its matching offer for a bundle of NBA rights rejected by the league.