- The NBA has been in the market for a new media-rights deal, and it had accepted bids from NBC, Amazon, and Disney.
- This left Warner Bros., the home of TNT, out in the cold after a relationship that had started in 1989.
- Warner Bros. is looking to match Amazon’s bid, which could take this saga to the courtroom in the near future.
On July 10, it was reported that the NBA had reached a deal with NBC, Amazon, and Disney, which owns ABC. The deal was reported to be worth a staggering $11 billion dollars over 11-year contracts. Previously, the sides almost completed the deal on June 7.
That would mean there is no room for Warner Bros., which owns TNT. However, that doesn’t mean that Warner Bros. is going to take this lying down.
Warner Bros. will match the Amazon part of the bid, which means this story isn’t over just yet. Let’s see how the media will try to keep the NBA rights.
Warner Bros. Uses Matching Rights to Keep Their Fight Going
On Tuesday, July 23, The Athletic reported that TNT Sports is utilizing its contractually-agreed-upon matching rights to battle the $1.8 bid launched by Amazon. However, the report also states that the NBA would like to move to Amazon, which would pave the way for a court battle. Warner Bros. released a lengthy statement:
“We’re proud of how we have delivered for basketball fans by providing best-in-class coverage throughout our four-decade partnership with the NBA,” TNT said in a statement. “In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties. Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it.
We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years. Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
The current contract between TNT and the NBA will end after the upcoming 2024-25 season. The Athletic report states that the NBA wanted to officially announce the deal ahead of the Olympics, which starts on Friday. However, it doesn’t look like that will happen.
The NBA has taken care of themselves with the new contracts, which don’t have the matching-rights clause that TNT does. It’s interesting that the NBA allowed that in the contract, possibly because of their long-standing relationship with Warner Bros. and TNT. The NBA could just give Warner Bros. a lump sum, to get them to halt court proceedings.
What Does This Mean for the Viewing Audience?
If the NBA does end up on Amazon, viewers would have to get another streaming service, in this case, Amazon Prime. This wouldn’t seem like a major issue. It is estimated that over 167 million people have Amazon, which means they have Amazon Prime. But that doesn’t mean everyone has Amazon.
In fact, that’s one of the reasons the company is pursuing the deal. Most streaming platforms have been aiming to get into live sports more recently.
Netflix is carrying the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, which was to be held in July, but will now be in November. Amazon is also already carrying WNBA games, as well.
People are already claiming “subscription fatigue”, meaning they have to subscribe to more streaming services to watch everything. This is ironic, as people started streaming because cable was getting too expensive. Now, streaming is almost as expensive, if not more, if you want to get all the streamers.
The biggest concern of the viewers is the uncertainty surrounding Inside The NBA. TNT’s flagship studio show is beloved in the basketball community. Online sportsbooks even had Charles Barkley going into golf after retirement, which he said he would do if TNT lost the NBA and Inside the NBA ended.
Some people don’t even watch basketball games but tune into Inside the NBA to see what Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal will say.
In any case, it doesn’t look like this saga is ending soon.
