Warner Bros. Discovery is trying to make a fourth-quarter comeback. The company announced it matched Amazon’s $1.8 billion-per-year bid to continue carrying NBA games on TNT after the 2024-2025 season.
On July 16, the NBA’s board of governors approved an 11-year, $76 billion TV deal that included Disney, NBC and Amazon. The deal begins with the 2025-2026 season and would mark the league’s push toward streaming options.
“[Streaming] allows for tremendous additional functionality while watching games,” Commissioner Adam Silver said in June ahead of game one of the NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics. “Personalization, customization of games, multiple feeds, multiple dialects, multiple languages, different camera angles; it really gives the fan enormous additional choice that you don’t have through traditional television.”
During negotiations, the price tag seemed to keep getting bigger with the expanded media landscape due to streaming and a limited number of available partners.
“It just shows how valuable prime real estate is in the sports world, and especially when you had two companies, Amazon Prime and NBC on the outside, wanting to get in,” former Fox Sports President Bob Thompson told Straight Arrow News in June when the $76 billion number was just a rumor. “And then you combine that with the fact that ESPN obviously wanted to maintain their position, maintain the finals for ABC [and] have enough content for their purported direct-to-consumer offering of ESPN.”
Stipulations from the previous media rights deal allows Warner Bros. and TNT Sports five days to submit a matching offer after being provided the details of the new contract. TNT Sports announced they did so on Monday, July 22.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” TNT Sports said in a statement. “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.”
The “iconic” studio show has been a major part of discussions around the future of NBA broadcasts. “Inside the NBA” has been a staple for basketball fans for years. Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neil, Kenny “the Jet” Smith and anchor Ernie Johnson became must-see TV.
Silver spoke about the importance of “Inside the NBA” and the possibility of TNT losing the NBA during that June press conference.
“It has been difficult,” Silver said. “That show, in particular, is special. And I have a close relationship with everyone who’s on that show from the time they played in the league, and Ernie [Johnson] and I have been friends forever.”
Questions about the show’s future prompted sports media to wonder whether another network would pick up the “Inside the NBA” crew. But Barkley made a surprise announcement following game four of the NBA Finals.
“I’ve talked to all the other networks but I ain’t going nowhere other than TNT,” the Hall of Famer said during a post-game broadcast. “But I have made the decision myself, no matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television.”
Warner Bros.’ decision to challenge Amazon’s bid leaves NBC on solid ground, solidifying the return of NBA on NBC for the first time in more than 20 years. And the famous theme song could make a comeback as well.
A spokesperson for the NBA told The Associated Press the league is reviewing Warner’s counteroffer.
