Everyone of a certain age remembers the NBC theme song used to introduce NBA games in the 1990s. Well, no word on if the song will be back, but NBC might.
Per The Wall Street Journal, NBC Sports is offering about $2.5 billion a year to carry NBA games — and it’s an offer that could move the NBA off TNT, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Warner Bros. reportedly pays the league about $1.2 billion to carry games, so the NBC Sports deal, if accurate, would be double that amount.
According to The Wall Street Journal, NBC is proposing airing two primetime games a week during the NBA season, as well as additional games on weekends. It would also involve select streaming rights.
TNT has been a much-applauded NBA broadcast partner through the years, particularly when it comes to its Inside the NBA studio show featuring Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and host Ernie Johnson.
Meanwhile, Disney-owned ESPN and ABC are believed to be close to finalizing a deal to keep the Finals and other select games, per reports.
Along with that, the league is nearing a deal with Amazon Prime Video as its major streaming service, per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. All of the aforementioned deals would likely last at least a decade.
“(Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT) is also reportedly attempting to salvage its relationship with the NBA after it was previously unable to reach a deal, but it’s not clear if it will be able to shell out what NBC and Amazon are preparing to pay,” wrote Michael P. Hill of Newscast Studio.
NBA broadcast/media rights last became available in 2014, when the league struck a deal with ESPN and TNT during the exclusive negotiating window. But times have changed and it failed to do the same in 2024.
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