The NBA was ‘surprised’ by NBC’s media rights offer

The NBA was ‘surprised’ by NBC’s media rights offer

In late July, the NBA finalized a historic 11-year, $76 billion media rights offer–more than triple its current $24 billion deal–with Disney (ESPN/NBC), NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Amazon Prime Video).

NBC returned to the fold after being left in the wind by ESPN over two decades ago. According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, the league was “surprised” by NBC’s plan to lock up Sunday (after the NFL season) and Tuesday evenings.

“While NBA executives, led by Silver and its president of global content and media distribution, Koenig game-planned for years of what could happen during negotiations, NBC surprised the league, according to executives briefed on the discussions,” Marchand wrote Monday.

“The NBA executive team, according to those briefed on their thinking, thought NBC would want to add ‘Sunday Night Basketball’ after its No. 1 rated in prime time, ‘Sunday Night Football,’ but the NBA was pleasantly surprised that Comcast also had a special, national/regional hybrid plan for the NBA on NBC on Tuesdays throughout the season.

“Comcast’s idea is to combine the NFL, the NBA/WNBA, the Olympics, Premier League and the Big Ten on Peacock to prevent churn, creating a must-have product for the whole year.”

Marchand also noted that NBC’s $27 billion offer to the league–equating to roughly $2.5 billion per year–superseded the average and total amount it granted to the NFL ($22 billion, $2.0B) for the same length of time. The NFL signed an 11-year, $110 billion media rights deal with six partners–Amazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC and NFL Network–in March of 2021 that began in 2022.

NBCUniversal’s package plans to air 100 combined regular season games beginning in 2025-26, the most amongst the three partners. There will be doubleheaders, on at least one of NBC or Peacock, on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights while also being the home of the All-Star Weekend.

It got a sweet deal with the NBA. Streaming services are becoming king; it’s the future. NBC did a good job capitalizing when it had the opportunity to do so.

“Our portfolio of sports on Peacock is incredibly robust,” Rick Cordella, NBC Sports president, said, according to Marchand. “You add the NBA to it. I’m a sports fan. You are a sports fan. It feels like a must-have. If you are a sports fan worth your salt, you need Peacock. You need NBC.”

***

Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube

Check out the Vendetta Shop

Click here for more NBA content