The NBA Finals is a “must have” for ESPN in the next round of media rights talks, despite questions about ABC’s future and potential competition from NBC.
In an interview published Thursday, ESPN executive Burke Magnus called the NBA Finals a “must-have” in the network’s next round of NBA rights talks when asked as much by Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. ESPN has carried the NBA Finals on broadcast sibling ABC for 21-straight seasons, the longest such run of any NBA rights partner.
Keeping the Finals may be more complicated than in ESPN’s three prior NBA deals (2002, 2007 and 2014), as Disney CEO Bob Iger has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that the company could sell off its non-ESPN linear channels, including ABC. There is no indication that the NBA would be open to airing the Finals on a cable network.
In addition, the NBA is expected to carve out a third rights package in the next round of negotiations, with Comcast-owned NBC — which held NBA rights from 1990-2002 — a leading contender. The NBA has never had two over-the-air partners at the same time. Other leagues with multiple over-the-air partners traditionally alternate their championship events between said outlets (e.g. the NFL currently or Major League Baseball throughout the 1980s and 1990s).
Magnus was clear that ESPN “very much” wants to retain the NBA and continue to the relationship “for many, many years.” He said the company hopes to come out of the next negotiations with a package similar to the status quo, though he conceded that “there’s little things … that could be changed or altered.” It is not clear whether losing the Finals to a competitor would affect ESPN’s calculation.
Magnus also said in the interview that ESPN plans to be aggressive in keeping rights to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament — which is widely expected to be sold separately from the rest of the NCAA championships, a la the men’s tournament — and the College Football Playoff.
(News from The Athletic 8.17)
