Amazon is indeed interested in poaching NBA rights from incumbents Disney/ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a Front Office Sports report, which cites anonymous sources.
According to the site, Amazon, which is averaging an impressive 12.9 million viewers per Thursday Night Football installment this season, wants to create a dedicated Tuesday or Thursday night slot for live NBA coverage.
This revelation (confirmation?) comes after an "industry conference" last year, during which NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he was “fascinated” with what Amazon Prime Video was doing with its 11-year, $1-billion-a-season commitment to the Thursday Night Football package, which has a median viewer age that is seven years younger than the typical NFL TV audience.
With the NBA's current national TV deals with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery expiring after the 2024-25 season, the league will reportedly seek between $50 billion - $75 billion combined for its next long-term national TV agreements.
Eleven months ago, fiscally conservative WBD CEO David Zaslav indicated that his conglomerate might balk on a marked increase to the $1.2 billion-a-season rate it pays the pro basketball league for TNT's TV rights, pointedly remarking, "We don't have to have the NBA."
Meanwhile, Disney disclosed financial data last week showing that ESPN profits are down 8% this year alone.
Both Disney and Warner have exclusive negotiating rights with the league through early next year. And Warner just launched a $9.99 live-sports extension for its Max subscription streaming platform, with the NBA at the center of it. But there's no guarantee that either media company will be able to "match up" with the length and the heft that the NBA might demand, at least not in a way that maintains the current paradigm of only two national TV rights partners.
According Front Office's sources, the NBA could negotiate deals with three to five media rights partners this time around, all with the goal of maximizing rights fees for its next deal.
Amazon is certainly in the race. Amazon Prime Video VP and head of sports, Jay Marine said earlier this year that the company will continue to pursue NBA and other live sports rights in an “aggressive” yet “rational” way.
“Sports are unique; they are uniquely viable,” Marine said. “Because of that, they’ve also been uniquely expensive. Having said that, they can do things that other things can’t because it’s a guaranteed audience.”
Notably, Amazon has already secured a multi-year partnership with the NBA to broadcast live games on Prime Video in Brazil.
Amazon will undoubtedly have competition, with Comcast recently said to be in the NBA rights hunt, as well.
