Bucking all reasonable expectations, “Inside the NBA” lives on. Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal broke the news over the weekend that the venerable studio show will be licensed by TNT to ESPN starting next season, part of a settlement that brings an end to Warner Bros. Discovery’s dispute with the NBA. Here is an overview.
What does the deal entail?
Warner Bros. Discovery will receive $350 million (or $70 million a year) from the NBA to provide content for NBA.com, the NBA app and NBA TV, though it will not continue to actually run those operations. The two entities will also collaborate to promote the league through advertising on WBD networks and digital platforms, according to Sports Business Journal.
Finally, Bleacher Report and House of Highlights will have access to NBA highlights and the company will be allowed to develop new NBA programming such as NBA-centric talk shows, documentaries. WBD will become a promotional partner of NBA League Pass using Bleacher Report and House of Highlights to accelerate subscriber growth. A section of the NBA app and NBA.com will be exclusively dedicated to content produced by B/R, HoH and TNT Sports. Outside of the United States, Warner Bros. Discovery will have a package of 100 regular season and playoff games that will air exclusively in the Nordics, Poland and Latin America (excluding Mexico and Brazil).
Despite losing domestic rights, it is estimated that between these new international rights and digital rights, TNT Sports will generate $100 million of profit over the next five years.
What does this mean for “Inside the NBA”?
“Inside” will begin airing next season exclusively on ESPN and ABC. It will still be produced by TNT Sports and continue to originate from WBD’s Atlanta studios, with the main cast of Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Shaquille O’Neal — all of whom would remain TNT Sports employees — expected to return. All but O’Neal are under contract.
ESPN will be able to sell ads airing during the broadcast and branding from the network will be featured somewhere on set, per Sports Business Journal. The show is set to air on ESPN during opening week, Christmas Day, all ABC games after January 1st, the final week of the NBA season, the playoffs, Conference Finals, the NBA Finals and “other marquee events.” How will the sides define “other marquee events?” It is unknown at this time, but ESPN is expected to go all out for the Super Bowl when it takes over coverage in 2027 from Los Angeles. “Inside” could hypothetically get implemented into coverage in some form. ESPN and TNT also share CFP rights and it would not be out of the question to have “Inside” on location from the championship game.
How did TNT agree to a deal with ESPN?
TNT and ESPN, alongside their parent companies, have become increasingly frequent collaborators of late. Earlier this year, TNT reached a sublicensing agreement with ESPN for some College Football Playoff games. WBD’s Max streaming service is part of a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu. ESPN and TNT were even partners (alongside Fox) in the currently-stalled sports streaming service Venu Sports.
In exchange for “Inside,” ESPN offered WBD a sublicensed package of Big 12 football and basketball games, bolstering the TNT Sports college football slate. It is too early to tell whether ESPN will produce the Big 12 games or provide talent. (When TNT airs College Football Playoff first round games in 2025, those will be produced and commentated by ESPN personalities.)
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro was instrumental in securing this deal. On Monday’s edition of The Dan Patrick Show, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic said Pitaro called his counterpart at Warner Bros. Discovery — Luis Silberwasser, Chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, three weeks ago to help solve the problems each company was facing with their NBA coverage. TNT was trying to find a way to recover from losing NBA rights while ESPN needed a pre-/post-game show fans and critics revered. Marchand said Pitaro and ESPN will be hands-off with production. TNT Sports has also confirmed that it will have full creative control.
ESPN has the ability to stop sublicensing “Inside” if one of the show’s hosts or analysts leave the show, according to CNBC. O’Neal is only under contract through July 1 of next year, per Sports Illustrated, and he is said to be “frustrated” by announcements touting the show’s return while his own deal is in limbo. Assuming all of the pending negotiations get settled, ESPN’s talent will have the ability to collaborate with the hosts. If we can glean anything from ESPN’s other sublicensing deals, this means ESPN talent will most likely appear as guests and vice versa. “Inside” hosts and analysts already make infrequent appearances on ESPN platforms.
Does this mean we get less “Inside the NBA”?
This is still unclear. Variety has previously reported that Warner Bros. Discovery wants to possibly create a version of “Inside” that features “a wider array of sports.” When “Inside” isn’t airing on ESPN, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it air on TNT or TruTV under this format. In addition to the Big 12, TNT will have the rights to the French Open, Unrivaled basketball, NASCAR, Big East basketball, the College Football Playoff while still continuing to air March Madness, the MLB and NHL. There will be plenty of opportunities between all of those other sports for the “Inside” crew to serve as a lead in and lead out.
As previously mentioned, WBD will also continue to provide support for NBA TV and airing “Inside” would provide the league’s network with an instant boost. Something else to pay attention to is whether the hosts themselves try to garner some equity in the show or future formats that spawn off from it. Smith has previously mentioned ownership during an interview with Forbes back in August. Barkley recently signed a production deal with Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI while O’Neal was a co-host and producer of a since-canceled ABC game show. O’Neal’s company is perhaps best-known for producing Amazon’s docuseries about NIL, “The Money Game.”
What happens to “NBA Countdown”?
ESPN has rights to NBA games on Wednesdays, occasional Fridays, and Saturdays under the new contract. Since “Inside” will be taking over for most of the marquee Saturday games airing on ABC, it is expected that the NBA Countdown crew would still be responsible for commentary on Wednesdays and Fridays. If the game is on ABC after January 1st, “Inside” will take over.
Will “Inside” get a full hour on ESPN?
These details haven’t been revealed yet. As of now, “SportsCenter with SVP” serves as the postgame show after big NBA games. ESPN’s pregame show is only 30 minutes compared to TNT’s NBA Tip-Off, which can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the schedule. “Inside” airs for a full hour after TNT’s slate of games is over. As “Inside” takes over ABC’s halftime show, it is important to remember the criticism ESPN has faced for the ratio of halftime analysis to commercial breaks, especially during the NBA Finals.
Is this arrangement normal?
If definitely unconventional, this arrangement is not unprecedented. ESPN currently sublicenses “The Pat McAfee Show” from Pat McAfee Inc. and is in talks to sublicense a late night talk show hosted by Jason Kelce from NFL Films. ESPN previously sublicensed “Barstool Van Talk” from Barstool Sports and “Intentional Talk” from the MLB Network. While Barstool and MLB Network are rivals of ESPN in their own right, the network has never sublicensed a pregame or postgame show from a direct rival such as TNT. The closest the network has come to such an arrangement was securing the services of Joe Buck from Fox Sports when he was still under contract, trading rights to a Big Ten football game as compensation. In a world of fragmentation, ESPN shows that it is willing to do whatever it takes to create an “Avengers” lineup of sports television.
Next season will not mark the first time “Inside” has been featured on ESPN. Last season, the show made its debut on “NBA Countdown” as part of a crossover to promote the NBA Cup. The “Inside” crew has also in the distant past appeared on “SportsCenter” to promote NBA Opening Week.
