I’m a two-decade veteran of Sports Business Journal, and I cover the intersection of sports and business for Puck—from the leagues and the agencies to the media deals, marketing apparatus, and titanic egos fueling it all.
I’m here to answer all your questions about the NBA’s new media rights deals. Topics I’m keen to delve into include:
- Where will fans will be able to watch games starting in the fall of 2025?
- What’s the strategy behind why ESPN, NBC and Amazon cut these deals?
- What happens next with Warner Bros. Discovery, and why was it left on the outside looking in?
- What does this type of deal mean for the future of media, from traditional TV networks to streaming companies?
- What will the NBA do with their local rights? (Especially as regional sports networks are struggling so much.)
Proof here.
Please feel free to submit your questions now, and I look forward to answering them in real time on 7/26/24 at 3:00 p.m. EST!
by PuckNews
27 Comments
How has this affected League Pass, and what is the strategy for this product now?
How do you think Amazon can utilize new media rights? Can we expect documentary series like Amazon does for soccer?
What types of media rights are there overall? Live, Highlights, old games, the whole catalogue? Or how many hours of content?
Which type of content is still available?
What strategy for platform like YouTube/Tiktok/instagram?
> Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said: “We look forward to continuing to innovate and evolve live sports coverage for our customers, and are fully committed to building an *incredible video experience* for millions of NBA fans starting in 2025.”
do you anticipate higher resolution NBA broadcasts (ie higher than 720p) to be introduced at some point over the course of these new deals?
How does this change the NBA league pass and local blackouts if at all? Does this mean the league pass app stops being trash cause Amazon is going to run it?
I’m especially interested in the last topic – the fate of the local networks and Bally Sports. To me it’s the elephant in the room of the new media rights deal, not just in the NBA, but college sports, NHL, and MLB especially. Would love to read your view on the long term future of it, as to me Bally Sports as a standalone product is destined for bankruptcy.
To put it simply; what is the eventual destiny of Hornets-Pistons on a Tuesday night? Where will it be broadcast, to whom, and for how much?
What are the contingency plans for this? Is there a path for one of the 3 larger partners to subsume these local games in something like “Amazon Prime League Pass”?
What does this mean for ESPN? Is it really gonna lose the rights to 1/3 of the games?
what does the nba international rights situation look like right now? 10-20 years from now, what % of league revenue do you think they’ll make up? does the nba have a % they want to hit?
not directly related to media rights, but do you think the gap btwn expansion from 32 (assuming we get seattle/vegas) to 33+ will shorter than the 20-year gap btwn 30 to 32?
Really curious about the balance between traditional TV and streaming platforms in these deals. Wondering if Amazon’s going to impact League Pass functionality? Will local games be accessible on Prime?
Does it feel like a compromise/settlement for WBD is to have it produce Amazon’s content as well as continuing to operate NBA TV/NBA.com? A monetary settlement doesn’t seem like it benefits them long term at all
Does this effect the games broadcast on the NBA Channel?
Hey John, I really enjoyed your podcast with Marchand.
I feel like Disney got a good bargain in comparison with $2.62 billion and NBA finals exclusivity. Did the NBA know that Comcast was gonna swoop over the top and make a wild $2.45 billion bid for a package without the finals? I feel like the NBA could have put the screws on Disney and made them split the NBA finals with Comcast.
Did the NBA ever seriously consider carving out a 4th package, or was that never going to happen?
Some questions that I suspect haven’t been worked out yet, but I’ll ask anyway –
– I assume that NBC Sunday night games will have the best matchups. Will the ABC Saturday/Sunday games remain the same way, or will they be relatively diminished in stature?
– Speaking of which, which TV windows have exclusivity or near-exclusivity? (i.e. like the current TNT Thursday night games).
– I think each team currently has a limit of roughly 26 games they could appear on ABC, ESPN, TNT entering the season – 6/10/10. Does that go up in this TV deal?
Thanks for answering!
1. does WBD have a chance of getting some major settlement money,
2. what are the chances Inside the NBA gets licensed out after the 2025 season?
Now that they have their tv deal, I’ve heard they’ll now turn to expansion. How long before the auction off expansion rights and when would that team actually start playing?
Will they bring in both teams at once or spread it out over two years?
Hi John, thanks for doing this. Two questions.
1. What do you think ends up happening to NBATV?
2. I know Kevin Harlan isn’t going to NBC – do you think he could go to Amazon? It would be so sad if he was done with the NBA.
this may not be related to the media deals, but I can’t find an answer anywhere, (I also can’t believe no one knows) How does the sports betting industry play into the CBA?
Hey John, I’ve been a big fan and I have a bit of a nerdy question for you. I’ve been following the Diamond Sports stuff pretty closely. I thought the first lien letters mentioning that they wanted to renegotiate was pretty interesting. Does that mean that Diamond is going to be cutting more teams? Or profits don’t look as good? Thanks in advance!
I know Ernie is committed to TNT/Warner and Chuck is retiring, but would be your prediction for what Kenny and Shaq do?
I have two things to ask:
1. How much did Zaslav’s “we don’t need the NBA” comments hurt the relationship between WBD and the NBA? If those comments were Silver’s first impression of the new WBD management, I imagine it wasn’t a good one.
2. I’m curious what the happens now for WBD and TNT Sports. I’ve seen other sports broadcasting nerds advocating that WBD should go after more minor sports rights (the FIFA World Cup, Formula One) to build out a “long tail”, in addition to their MLB and NHL rights. Do you think this will be a viable strategy for WBD across the next decade?
What is your best guess for what the Celtics are going to sell for with this media deal now in hand?
Best guess on who is going to buy it?
I feel like alot of coverage of the WBD loss here has mainly centered on both zaslav’s continuing status as a villain and disliked studio CEO in Hollywood, as well as the charles barkely angle of TNT having the strongest and most well known sports broadcast currently on the air. But were there other personal factors that drove the NBA away here?
HI John, what do the new deals mean for international league pass subscriptions? Will I still be able to buy one single subscription and access all games and other content through a single app?
Hi John. Could you see a settlement being reached between WBD and NBA where TNT Sports assists with the production of Amazon’s NBA games? Similar to how NBC Sports assists with Thursday Night Football?
Three questions:
1. Will the NFL opt-out of their TV deal after 2029 after seeing the NBA TV deals?
2. Did TNT/WBD have a legit shot of reaching a deal with the NBA after their exclusive window expired? Seems to me like NBC & Peacock were getting the packages no matter what.
3. Did NBC overspend for the NBA? Will this deal jeopardize a future NFL or Olympic deal?
I have 4 things to ask:
1. What are the odds of a judge dismissing Zaslav’s claims without prejudice?
2. Would Zaslav suing the NBA over them denying their matching bid hurt their longterm relationships with other leagues including their longstanding partnership with CBS for the Men’s Basketball Tournament?
3. What are the plans for NBATV now that Turner itself no longer has the rights?
4. Any word on the local rights? Is the NBA waiting on the decision from the Bankruptcy Judge on whether or not Diamond emerges from Bankruptcy?
Considering these deals have international components to varying degrees (as a Brit I’m actually surprised Sky are picking up games again), it now seems even more interesting that Apple weren’t in the mix, especially given that NBA feels like the last real property available for the foreseeable future (happy to be corrected there but seems like a lot of consequential sports rights, especially in the US & Europe, are pretty much locked up through the end of the decade).
Is there any real indication that they ever kicked the tires in regards to the NBA? Or do you think their sports ambitions are going to be limited to smaller properties where they can pick up an entire inventory globally, much like the MLS (or the Club World Cup deal which fell through)?
How are Canadian and other international markets affected by the deal? Are they also paying bajillions of dollars to the NBA
so, 4PM EDT?
Hi John, is Russian agent Julia Ioffe as big a twat in person as her public persona portrays her to be?