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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