NBA Reaches $76 Billion Deal With Amazon, Comcast, and Disney
The National Basketball Association has announced a new long-term television deal with Walt Disney Company, Comcast Group and Amazon.com Inc., rejected Warner Bros.’s attempt. Discover Inc. will retain the decades-old broadcasting rights.
Together, the agreements are expected to create 76 billion dollars to the league over its 11-year existence — nearly triple the revenue from its previous deal. Amazon will pay about $1.8 billion annually and make streaming an integral part of the league’s media strategy. The new deals kick in next fall.
“Throughout these negotiations, our primary goal has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for fans,” the league said in a statement Wednesday. “Our new agreement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal agreements.”
Warner Bros., the parent company of cable channel TNT and streaming service Max, said on July 22 that it plans to make a comparable offer to Amazon, taking advantage of a clause in its current contract with the league that allows it to respond to competing offers.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer, and as a result, we entered into a long-term agreement with Amazon,” the league said.
The NBA’s refusal could lead to a legal battle with the media giant, which has been the NBA’s broadcasting partner since Ronald Reagan was president.
“We believe they have seriously misconstrued our contractual rights relating to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action,” Warner Bros. said in an email.
Amazon will air 66 regular-season NBA games on its Prime Video service. Comcast has the largest package, with 100 regular-season games, more than half of which are on NBC. The new deal includes 80 regular-season games for Disney, 20 of which will be on ABC, which remains the exclusive broadcaster of the Finals.
The deal also includes broadcast rights for the WNBA, with more than 125 games being awarded to the three media giants, the women’s league said. The WNBA hopes to add more media partners.
The league’s contract value has jumped from the current $60 million to $200 million a year, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing non-public information.
“The partnership with Disney, Amazon and NBCU marks an important chapter in WNBA history and clearly demonstrates the significant increase in value and historic interest in women’s basketball,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
