CEO Says Disney Willing to Continue NBA Relationship in ‘Fiscally Responsible Way’

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the company would “love to be in business with the NBA,” provided it is handled “in a fiscally responsible way,” per Dade Hayes of Deadline and RealGM.

Disney owns ESPN and ABC, which broadcast national NBA games, including the Finals.

Chapek took part in a quarterly earnings call, adding that Disney would want multiplatform rights in any new deal with the NBA, per Hayes. As we relayed here, Amazon and Apple have been linked to the looming NBA streaming rights contracts, and Netflix is said to be interested in entering the sports streaming game as well. 

The TV deal between Disney and the NBA is set to expire after the 2024-25 season. The NBA is reportedly seeking in the neighborhood of $75 million for its next broadcast contract. It also is preparing to sell its streaming rights, with the price tag likely set at about $1 billion, per Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

“We value our media rights partnerships with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery and we know our fans have come to expect us to deliver content through both traditional and emerging methods,” an NBA source told McCarthy.

Back in August, Chapek told reporters that Disney is “interested in a renewal with the NBA,” before adding “we will only do it if it is accretive to shareholder value.” 

As for streaming services, it appears to be very much up in the air who will hold NBA rights.

“I would say that all of the leading technology companies are interested in the NBA. Amazon is just one of them. I think Apple, I think Google. All of them,” former NBA and ESPN executive John Kosner said, via McCarthy.

Kosner currently heads Kosner Media as a media adviser.

“And keep in mind the definition of what’s a ‘rights package’ going forward doesn’t have to be what we grew up with,” he said. “A company like Discord (a social platform with 150 million monthly users) could become an NBA rights holder at some point, too. I think they’re all interested.”