NBA Close to $76 Billion Media Rights Deals: Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video Secure Future

The NBA's Board of Governors has approved the league's new media rights deals with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video, moving closer to finalizing the 11-year agreements valued at around $76 billion.

This significant milestone was reached at the board's meeting on Tuesday.

The final step involves Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which has a five-day window to match one of these deals and extend its longstanding relationship with the NBA, which dates back to the late 1980s.

This window begins once WBD receives the contracts from the league, though NBA Commissioner Adam Silver did not specify when this period starts.

"Without getting into the specifics of the deal, I'd say philosophically we set out with certain goals in these negotiations and part of them were economic and part of them also led to what are the best ways we can serve our fans going forward," Silver commented.

"Part of it was to get additional broadcast exposure, and hopefully, we will have accomplished that. And also, to get more streaming connectivity with our fans, because in terms of traditional television — while still vital — there is a large portion of our fan base that no longer subscribes to those services."

If confirmed, the new agreements will commence in the 2025-26 season. They will succeed a nine-year, $24 billion deal, which set records for the NBA in terms of value and length.

The new contracts will continue the NBA's presence on ESPN and ABC while adding NBC and Amazon to the lineup.

"We wanted to ensure that our games will be accessible to our fans through various streaming services," Silver noted.

"So, that's something that we've been very focused on in these deals, and not just on reach in the United States, but reach globally as well."

Under the proposed deals, ESPN and ABC will retain the NBA Finals, which have aired on ABC since 2003, one of the conference finals series, and numerous regular season games.

After returning as a broadcast partner for the first time since 2002, NBC will feature Sunday night games post-NFL season, Tuesday games during the regular season, and a Monday night package on Peacock.

Amazon Prime Video will broadcast games on Thursday nights after NFL coverage, with additional slots on Friday and Saturday.

NBC and Prime Video will alternate hosting the other conference final.

The NBA has modified the group play tiebreaker system for the in-season tournament, now known as the Emirates NBA Cup.

Overtime scoring has been excluded from the point differential and total points tiebreakers, as well as the second and third criteria after the head-to-head record in group play.

This change aims to prevent situations like last season, where teams engaged in unusual tactics to secure tiebreakers.

For instance, Boston fouled Chicago intentionally while leading by 32 points with seven minutes left in a group play game to boost its tiebreaker position, and New York advanced to the quarterfinals over Cleveland, Orlando, and Brooklyn based on point differential.

The NBA has made the in-game flopping penalty permanent following a successful trial last season.

Players penalized for flopping will receive a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul, and the opposing team will be awarded one free throw, to be taken by any player in the game when the technical is called. Players cannot be ejected from a game solely for flopping violations.

Looking ahead, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated that the league will focus on potential expansion once the collective bargaining agreement and media deals are finalized.

"I think we will engage this fall, in earnest, in the process of making those determinations — should we expand and if we were to expand, how many teams should we expand," Silver stated.