Amazon to get In-Season and Play-in tournaments as part of NBA deal

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 12: Detail view of an NBA Wilson basketball during an NBA basketball game between the Sacramento Kings and the LA Clippers on December 12, 2023 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire)

The NBA’s two newly-created properties, the In-Season Tournament and Play-in Tournament, are reportedly headed to Amazon in the league’s new rights deal.

Amazon will own rights to the NBA In-Season Tournament (renamed the NBA Cup as of next season) and Play-in Tournament under its expected rights deal with the NBA, John Ourand of Puck reported Monday. There had been speculation throughout negotiations that the NBA would sell rights to the NBA Cup and/or Play-in Tournament separately to a company like Netflix.

The Amazon deal would also include a conference final every-other-year and the previously reported slate of regular season and playoff games. Newly reported Monday is that Amazon is seeking — and likely to get — a Saturday night window. One would assume that means the end of ABC’s occasional Saturday night game.

ESPN, per Ourand, will carry only Wednesday night regular season games as part of its renewal, dropping the Friday night slate that it has aired since the 2002-03 season.

While the network’s regular season slate will be markedly reduced, the same cannot be said for its playoff coverage. The company will continue to own annual rights not just to the NBA Finals, but to a conference final as well, under the new deal.

By contrast, the “B” package of games currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery will only include a conference final every-other-year, alternating with Amazon. The rest of the current “B” inventory will remain in place, including NBA All-Star Weekend, playoffs, and a night of regular season games (Sundays on NBC, Tuesdays or Thursdays on TNT). NBC’s package also would include games on Peacock.

Per Ourand, it is unlikely that the NBA will find a way to split the remaining inventory between WBD and NBC, as there is simply not enough to go around. As of Monday, there is “no agreement in sight” for the “B” package.

It is clear from the inventory for each company that the “B” package is closer to Amazon’s “C” package than to ESPN’s “A” package, an indication that NBC’s $2.5 billion bid likely raised the price tag for WBD from somewhere in the neighborhood of Amazon’s $1.8 billion/year.

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 19

Mn_ace says:

2 years ago

I think it seems to be a lot of confusion in reports saying if “TNT matches the $2.5B” they keep the “B” package. No I think it’s more than just the money I believe WBD has to match the promotion and platforms as well meaning other cable networks, streaming and most importantly a broadcast network which I’m sure Comcast put it in their bid knowing it would be very very difficult to match seeing that the other broadcast networks already have obligations they can’t work around so this notion that all they have to do is match the money is false. The NBC broadcast network component is pretty much the death nail for TNT’s rights but I’m just curious to know why is WBD being afforded all this extra time to match or more opportunity to negotiate because if I’m NBC I want an agreement like right now because enough time has passed to agree to a deal by now.
Matt Galvin says:

2 years ago

Amazon going to use Al Michaels.
JP says:

2 years ago

Why hasn’t this been made official? At least WBD (TURNER SPORTS) will remain involved with the NBA
- Jtk1 says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  I sure hope TNT keeps their package, even if both TNT and NBC have games. As for ESPN I know they will have fewer games going forward, so this is how I would do it. Tuesday nights on TNT in the early season then Thursday night after the New Year. ESPN on Friday night, Wednesday will go back to ESPN doing college basketball. Amazon will have Saturday night games. ABC would have Sunday afternoon games while NBC could do Sunday night games, and early in the season Monday night games. As for the other games like Thursday early and Tuesday later in the season games would be on NBA TV, as well as Sunday before NBC takes over. As for Christmas they can stay on ABC.
Jordan says:

2 years ago

Hi John, Big fan of your work
My question here is if you had to guess which network would land which weeknight during regular season what would that be
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  Tough to say. We know ESPN will have Wednesday nights. I think Amazon would want weekends. So comes down to whether WBD matches Comcast’s bid. If so, TNT would have its usual Tuesday or Thursday games. If not, maybe Peacock gets a weeknight slate.
sunrise089 says:

2 years ago

Jon, two things I’d love your take on (maybe as a podcast segment??):

1) If NBC ends up with the rights, what does this mean for the Warner component of the announced three-way premium sports streaming service launching this year? It seems like Warner would be deadweight in that deal.

2) How are the networks valuing reach versus inventory, even if the latter is somewhat “empty calories” IMHO. I just can’t make sense of NBC valuing this deal more than Sunday Night Football given that across what, 60 nights of programming, SNF will have the top 20 nights of ratings. Are January regular season NBA games watched by 2M people really that valuable?!
- NaBUru38 says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  NBC (and Comcast) needs NFL and NBA rights to hold the bundle. Networks without them are worth pennies.
esl says:

2 years ago

Jon, I don’t see much of a difference between the “B” and “C” package. I see the only difference between the “B” and “C” package is the All Star game. But I think that cancels out with the play in tournament. Do you see any advantage in the “B” package over the “C” package? I am still having a hard time believing NBC/Comcast would go in this big without the finals (and not even conference finals every year). Curious to get your thoughts?
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  I think the “B” and “C” would probably have been priced similarly if not for Comcast’s bid. I imagine Comcast decided to overpay either to push WBD out or to force them to pay more than the package is worth.
  - Mn_ace says:
    
    2 years ago
    
    I really think it’s more to force WBD out because I believe NBC really wants it and worse case scenario WBD overpays and it’s hurts them later on putting more pressure on them to possibly sell to Comcast in a merger. But I believe they know that matching is more than just money it’s platforms and not having a broadcast network will be the death nail because if you pay $2.6 billion for what’s left the same as Disney who’s getting a lot more inventory then you’re just getting careless with the future of your company
Wyatt Smith says:

2 years ago

To me if these deals hold, ESPN is looking more like securing the rights deal to its cable network only, since if Amazon is getting Saturday games, what is ABC getting back on this? (Monday or Friday nights after the NFL Season?) since the Sunday package just isn’t enough games by itself even with the Doubleheaders, to me if that’s how the deals end up, I don’t think the NBA is really maximizing the Broadcast component since the B Package in NBC is losing a lot more stuff than what WBD’s has included in that package (since without those things mentioned in the Amazon package, to me the B Package is more looking like Amazon’s package than the one WBD has rn)
- Mn_ace says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  I’m pretty sure if NBC gets it they’ll be broadcasting a lot more regular season games than just 15-19. I’m thinking more like 25-29 games because not only do they want prime time slots but I can see them doing some Saturday and Sunday afternoon games as well with a significant amount of playoff games
Nate Johnson says:

2 years ago

Im at the point now where I don’t want NBC bringing the NBA back on there. I have no issues with ESPN/ABC having the Finals going forward, but to also get a conference final every year as well, while Amazon gets the conference finals every other year at far less than $2.5B sounds like a rip off for NBC.

Yes Im one of those that wants Roundball Back. Yes Im one of those that wants less and less of NBA on ESPN/ABC. But clearly Adam Silver has a very soft spot for ESPN/ABC for them to continue to have so much inventory of the playoffs going forward. It’s almost like seeing people being okay dealing with a toxic partner in a relationship. It is what it is. Great Hustle by Silver and the NBA. Another decade of misery though watching champions crowned on ESPN-produced stuff.

My suggestion to NBC is to walk back on the $2.5B bid and tell the NBA we’re offering it at the same price of Amazon, take it or stay with TNT. Im not sure NBC will do that. They’re desperate for Spring Sports

NBC should just wait until the next talks
Brian says:

2 years ago

With possibly five or six conference finals to a streaming service, what will that mean for future semifinals, say NHL conference finals or LCS in baseball?
- Jon Lewis says:
  
  2 years ago
  
  I think the next MLB and NHL deals will be interesting to watch. I wonder what WBD does if it loses the NBA — does it start to pare back its rights, or does it double-down on what it has left? If it starts to shed rights, you would think a streamer would contend for the TBS-owned LCS.
  - K-Dap says:
    
    2 years ago
    
    I think Amazon is definitely in play for the NHL imo. They just signed a deal to get Monday night in Canada from Sportsnet. I could see them getting that in the next US deal and having Monday nights overall in both US and Canada. Bettman is in a good spot if Amazon wants NHL in both US and Canada TV rights imo.
Mn_ace says:

2 years ago

So if Amazon is getting the NBA Cup and Play In and Conference Finals every other year plus regular season and playoff games that sounds like WBD is getting squeezed out hard and being asked to pay almost double more of what they’re currently paying 🤔 sure as heck doesn’t sound sensible at this point. I think the “B” package suits NBC and the NBA much more because you get a new partner willing to pay double plus more network television exposure and streaming. Cable subscriptions are shrinking fast and TNT in 5 years could be in 30 million or less homes by that time.
billy says:

2 years ago

seems like amazon got an fantastic deal. surely the play-in tournament and in-season cup thing are worth more than all-star weekend, at least going by recent ratings