NBA Slashing Price of League Pass by More Than 50 Percent

Now might be a great time to buy NBA League Pass, because it’s never been cheaper. At least, not in modern times.

As relayed by Jacob Feldman of Yahoo Entertainment, the league will now charge just $100 for the standard League Pass contract. That’s down from the $230 it cost last season. Notices sent to renewal candidates revealed that fans can also opt to pay $15 a month.

As for the commercial-free premium package, it too is down considerably from last season, dropping from $280 to $130, Feldman reported. That package can also be paid in monthly installments, of $15.49.

So, what gives?

After all, this is a pro sports league we’re talking about, and we all know that in pro sports, prices tend to go up. It’s almost never the other way.

Well, the competition is a lot tougher these days, given that viewers have a boatload of streaming apps at their disposal — from YouTube TV to Hulu to Netflix to Disney+ to hundreds of others.

So going cheap and slashing your package by 56 percent makes darn good sense for the NBA.

“This year, League Pass access is being bundled with a special $150 version of the NBA 2K video game,” Feldman wrote. “League Pass is also being offered to certain NBA Top Shot users in collaboration with Dapper Labs, though details of that opportunity have not been announced.”

Last year, NBA commissioner Adam Silver hinted that changes could be coming to the league’s out-of-market package, saying that cable bundles are “clearly broken.”

Silver once promised the NBA has “more interest in our product than ratings reflect. The problem is there is a large pool of audience out there who don’t pay for basic cable, so they can’t get it. That’s a problem we can figure out over time.” 

It sounds like the NBA is taking the first step to solving that issue right now. And you can bet it serves as great news for those who consume the product.