It has been a foregone conclusion for months, but the NBA is officially returning to NBC.
Comcast executive Mike Cavanagh said in a Q2 earnings call Tuesday that the company expects to soon announce its widely-reported NBA rights deal and that it does not expect to be impacted by Warner Bros. Discovery’s exercise of its matching rights.
Cavanagh detailed several aspects of the deal, some of which had already been reported. NBC and Peacock will carry a combined 100 games per regular season, which is more than any other media partner in the deal and more than any partner currently carries. (Though WBD currently airs more games if one includes NBA TV.)
Comcast’s playoff coverage will include exclusive first and second round games, plus the six conference finals that were reported by Andrew Marchand last week. Cavanagh said Comcast will also have more playoff games on average than any other media partner.
Peacock’s lineup of games will include 50 combined across the regular season and playoffs.
The NBC deal is highlighted by NBA Opening Night, the NBA All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night and an annual Martin Luther King Day doubleheader, all of which are hallmarks of TNT’s current schedule. While WBD is matching Amazon’s “C” package, the new NBC deal is a spiritual successor to WBD’s current contract.
Comcast’s WNBA coverage will include three WNBA Finals, part of seven semifinal series, and a combined 50 regular season and first round playoff games. Though not said Tuesday, the WNBA games will air primarily on USA and Peacock, with fewer on the NBC broadcast network.
NBC has also acquired the USA Basketball games that lead up to the Olympics and FIBA World Cup. Those games are currently airing on Fox Sports.
The deal also includes Telemundo, which last carried NBA games in the early 2000s.
NBC was the lead NBA broadcast partner from 1990-2002, a period that coincided with the Michael Jordan era.
