Twenty years ago, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was a pioneer in transforming the sports media landscape by moving most of its games from free over-the-air television to cable networks.
Now, the NBA may have the choice to spark another seismic shift in the sports media landscape if it chooses to embrace the world of streaming TV.
Given its success with NFL’s Thursday Night Football, Amazon will likely be a contender for the NBA’s media rights during the next round of negotiations, according to a report by Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
The NBA is expected to command upward of $75 billion for its next media rights package. The league boasts rising superstars like Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, and Jayson Tatum, a tech-savvy audience that skews towards younger generations and global appeal.
On the other hand, the NBA’s current cable distribution model is under pressure, as younger consumers in the U.S. are leading the cord-cutting shift towards streaming services.
The NBA already has a $1.5 billion per year deal with the streaming service Tencent Holding in China.
Under its current U.S. media rights deals that run through the 2024-25 season, Disney’s ABC/ESPN and Warner Brother’s TNT are paying a combined $24 billion, or $2.6 billion annually.
Back in 2002, ESPN was who sold the NBA on moving mostly to cable from broadcast. The tables have now turned, and ESPN and TNT will have to play defense against Amazon and other streaming services that may also be contenders, like Apple or Google.
“I would say that all of the leading technology companies are interested in the NBA. Amazon is just one of them. I think Apple, I think Google. All of them,” former NBA and ESPN executive John Kosner told McCarthy.
“And keep in mind the definition of what’s a ‘rights package’ going forward doesn’t have to be what we grew up with,” Kosner continued. “A company like Discord (a social platform with 150 million monthly users) could become an NBA rights holder at some point, too. I think they’re all interested.”
Despite the bottomless pockets of the tech giants, they will have to convince the NBA that switching its broadcasts to streaming services would not result in losing a large percentage of its audience.
“The last thing we want is to disenfranchise fans who are not watching TV in a traditional manner and therefore can’t see our games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland in February.
Meanwhile, ESPN has made clear it has no intentions of letting go of its business with the NBA, potentially signifying a bidding war.
“It’s an incredibly important property for us. We also see that property as ascending — younger demographics. Right now, I think they have more parity than we’ve seen in a long time,” ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro told The Athletic in June. “We see young stars who are starting to catch on in the zeitgeist. We are incredibly excited about the NBA.”
