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The NBA season has been over since Monday, so teams are now setting their sights on next week’s NBA Draft. However, with the actual games over, the NBA itself is dealing with a major issue: which networks will broadcast their games after next season.
Reports have emerged months ago that the NBA has negotiated frameworks with three partners — ESPN DIS, Comcast CMCSA and Amazon — for a deal worth about $76 billion over 11 years. The agreement with the three partners will exclude Warner Bros Discovery, which broadcasts the NBA on TNT.
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There is also a belief that a loss to TNT’s NBA, which has broadcast the NBA since the 1989-90 season, would be the end of the beloved studio show “Inside The NBA” starring Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. And Charles Barclay. Johnson will remain with TNT regardless of the final result with the NBA, according to the Sports Business Journal, while Barkley announced his retirement from television after next year.
Barkley retires It has been questioned by manyBut whether it’s a negotiation tactic or the truth, his impending retirement is a sign of turbulent times at WBD (WBD) .
Despite all the reports about the NBA and its three partners, the league has not signed contracts with any of them yet. So, the door is open for WBD.
However, a new report suggests that one of two options for WBD to keep the NBA is now off the table.
WBD’s chance of forming new deal with NBA ‘almost dead’
It has been reported that one way WBD could remain alive in NBA negotiations is to form a fourth package with the league.
This package will essentially take a portion of WBD’s other packages to stream some games. Front Office Sports said it could also include some games that would take regional partners to TNT’s national audience.
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However, according to Puck’s John Aurand, this package is “as dead as it gets” and that there is only a “one percent” chance of WBD getting this deal.
The big difficulty for WBD in concluding this deal is that its share of the games would be taken away from the other partners, essentially devaluing their deals, reigniting negotiations, and potentially removing the additional value that the NBA has been able to extract from its share. New partners.
More NBA media rights:
- NBA commissioner apologizes to TNT workers for job uncertainty
- Warner Bros. faces Discovery is in trouble after Comcast offers the NBA a huge deal
- Charles Barkley calls WBD executives ‘clowns’ amid NBA media rights negotiations
A final WBD option still on the table is to match the package offered by Amazon or Comcast.
Comcast’s bid to bring the NBA back to NBC is said to be $2.5 billion per year, while Amazon’s bid is $1.8 billion per year. The NBA is reportedly dangling around WBD with the idea that it can’t exactly match Comcast’s dollar-for-dollar deal because Comcast provides the ability to broadcast the league on a traditional television network.
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