The NBA is close to a new television deal that would double its rights fee and keep the status quo.
Sports Business Journal reported Monday that ESPN and Turner Sports are expected to soon reach an agreement with the NBA on a new eight-year media rights deal that would kick in with the 2016-17 season. The networks would each pay about $1 billion annually, doubling the league’s current rights fee (a combined $930 million per year).
According to the report, the NBA is not expected to pursue a third television partner — partly at the behest of ESPN — leaving fledgling network Fox Sports 1 out in the cold. In that and several other ways, the new deal will largely resemble the old one.
Despite a report earlier this summer that Turner Sports would pursue the NBA Finals, the NBA has agreed to keep the championship series on ABC. Turner, which will continue airing the NBA All-Star Game, will also keep its weekly doubleheader on Thursday nights; the league had previously discussed moving to another night to avoid the NFL.
The biggest change in the new TV deal will be the sheer amount the league pulls in annually. The $2B/year rights fee would comfortably eclipse Major League Baseball’s annual haul from Fox, ESPN and Turner Sports ($1.5B) and represent the league’s largest jump over its previous contract — a 115% increase — since the heady days of the 1990s.
The initial 2002 television deal between the NBA, ESPN and Turner Sports represented a mere 24% increase over the previous deal (from $615M/year to $765M). The 2007 extension delivered a 22% jump annually (from $765M to $930M).
The deal would extend the length of the NBA on ABC to 22 consecutive seasons, easily the longest run the NBA has ever had with a broadcast network partner. The NBA on NBC lasted 12 years and the NBA on CBS lasted 17. Turner Sports will have aired the NBA for 40 straight seasons.
(Mon. news from Sports Business Journal; earlier reports from Sports Business Journal, Wall Street Journal)
