The NBA rejected a last-minute offer from Warner Bros Discovery’s  TNT Sports division, saying it was not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league.

NBA rejected WBD deal

The NBA media rights deal by WBD was rejected as it fell short of Amazon’s proposal. This has ended a four-decade relationship with the media company after next season.

“We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action,” TNT Sports said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Disney, Amazon, NBC winning NBA media rights

Analysts have said winning telecast rights requires a huge financial commitment considering the cost as well as the fees associated with production.

About 75 regular-season games will be on broadcast TV each season, up from the minimum of 15 games under the current agreement, NBA said.

“Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

“These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

A blow to WBD

The deal represents a blow to Warner’s sports division, adding to investor concerns about its role in the new sports-streaming partnership with Disney and Fox.

“A lawsuit could follow but it’d be risky,” said Ross Benes, Emarketer’s television and streaming analyst. “Even if WBD won a hypothetical suit to get the NBA back, it’d be stuck working with an angry NBA who it just sued. Such action could also spook other leagues from striking deals with them.”

Warner CEO David Zaslav said in May the company “was hopeful” it would reach an agreement with the NBA to keep the league on Max and TNT.

The NBA has contributed a sizable amount to Warner’s profit over the last four decades through advertising dollars across to the company’s traditional television portfolio and streaming services.

Tom Forte, senior consumer internet analyst at Maxim Group, said professional sports leagues are prioritizing companies they believe can pay the most “today, and in the future, for the rights to broadcast their games.”

The Women’s National Basketball Association announced separately that it renewed partnerships with Disney and Amazon and signed a new deal with NBCUniversal. The agreements will allow the companies to distribute more than 125 WNBA regular-season and playoff games.

NBA $76 billion deal division

Long-time league partner Disney will carry a total of 80 regular-season NBA games, including 20 contests on the ABC Network.

ABC will remain exclusive home of the NBA Finals, which it has broadcast since 2003.

NBCUniversal will pick up 100 regular-season NBA games, with more than half airing on NBC. Its sister service Peacock will stream a doubleheader each Monday night of the season.

The network also will telecast one of the two Conference Finals series in six of the 11 years of the contract, which it will carry on a rotating basis with Amazon, beginning with the 2025-26 season.

Amazon also will carry 66 regular-season NBA games on Prime Video each season, including at least one game on Black Friday.

The NBA adds to Prime Video’s growing roster of live sports offerings, which include NFL and NASCAR in 2025.

NBA a rich league

With the new agreements with Disney, Amazon, and NBC, the NBA’s revenue will vault ahead of Major League Baseball’s, firmly establishing it as the second-richest sports league in the U.S.

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Warner Bros Discovery’s, TNT Sports’ announcement for NBA bid comes days after the league informed team owners it had finalized deals with Walt Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon. The deal is reportedly valued at $76 billion, and takes effect after the 2024-25 season.

Warner Bros Discovery’s NBA bid

TNT Sports did not say which of the NBA programming packages it was seeking to match, however one source familiar with the offer said the company is seeking to match the Amazon Prime Video’s bid of $1.9B per season, on average, over the life of the 11-year contract.

The NBA has “received Warner Bros. Discovery’s proposal” and is “in the process of reviewing it,” according to a league spokesperson.

TNT matches Amazon bid

Warner Bros. Discovery acquired matching rights as part of its previous deal with the league, which expires at the end of next season. Those rights allow the company to match payment for any of the games that aired on TNT in the current deal.

The question for both the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery is if the rights extend to an all-streaming package, as has been carved out for Amazon. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns a streaming service, Max, which it could use to air games.

Still, Amazon Prime Video has more than twice as many global customers, more than 200 million to Max’s roughly 100 million, which may make the service a more appealing platform for the league. The streaming rights are global, even though Warner Bros. Discovery is only bidding on U.S. rights, according to people familiar with the language in the contract.

Warner Bros and Amazon’s NBA bid

Amazon is also on firmer footing as a stand-alone company, with a market capitalization of nearly $2 trillion. Warner Bros. Discovery’s market valuation has fallen to about $20 billion, and CEO David Zaslav has repeatedly discussed his interest in more mergers or partnerships, putting the future of the company into question. That’s an added potential headache for the league, which wants stability in its broadcast partners.

NBA’s other deals

The league has also inked deals with Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal for two other packages of games. Both Disney and Comcast have market valuations of more than $150 billion.

What if NBA rejects Warner Bros. bid?

If the NBA rejects Warner Bros. Discovery’s right to match the Amazon package, remains unclear. There would be a possibility that Warner Bros. Discovery could sue the NBA. It is also possible the league could work out a settlement with the company. It is unclear if the NBA would ask Amazon to pay more money for its package.

NBA broadcast deal

All three partners plan to pay more money for fewer games than the NBA league is currently getting from either Disney or Warner Bros. Discovery in its current deal.

Disney will pay about $2.6 billion per year for its package, and NBCUniversal around $2.5 billion per year. Amazon’s deal is worth $1.8 billion per year. The less-expensive price tag is why Warner Bros. Discovery has targeted that package of games for its matching rights, according to people familiar with the matter.

Warner Bros. NBA bid, a risk

The bid is “a risky move that could anger the NBA and sour Warner Bros Discovery’s reputation among other sports leagues that it may be interested in doing business with,” said Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes.

“However, the NBA is so valuable to the company that desperate measures may be warranted.”

The Warner unit has been bulking up its sports programming, in June announcing a six-year deal with the Big East Conference to carry men’s and women’s college basketball and a decade-long agreement with the French Tennis Federation to carry the French Open.

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Under the agreements the NBA deal will be worth $76 billion, according to executives with direct knowledge of the deals. Also, NBA medial rights deal will extend for 11 seasons.

NBA TV rights deal

The new agreement, which is more than three times the current deal for NBA, comes as sports become a powerful draw for media companies trying to expand premium viewership.

NBA has always been a star-driven sport with talents such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal dominating the games and viewership.

NBA’s partners

Disney’s ESPN and ABC, and Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT sports have been the league’s two primary partners from 2002 and 1984, respectively. But media reports have said the NBA has been looking to bring in new partners to maximize returns and more than double the deal value.

If the NBA media rights deal goes through, it could end a 40-year-long partnership with Warner’s networks.

However, TNT could still match the deal, as per report.

Warner will have the NBA next year as well since the new rights deal doesn’t kick in until the end of the 2024-25 season.

ESPN declined to comment while NBC, Amazon and NBA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.

NBA, Amazon, NBC contract

Under the new NBA television deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime, the regular season would feature national telecasts nearly seven days a week, according to sources briefed on the agreements.

The NBA will borrow a page from the NFL, as following the end of football’s regular season, NBC will have the NBA succeed the highest-rated primetime show on television, “Sunday Night Football,” while, on Thursdays, Amazon will do the same after its TNF coverage concludes.

During the entire regular season, Amazon Prime Video is anticipated to have its other games streamed predominantly on Friday nights and Saturdays.

NBC will have games throughout the full NBA season on Tuesdays. Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, is expected to have exclusive telecasts on Mondays. Peacock will also simulcast all the NBC games.

What’s next?

While the NBA and its partner agreed to all the language, incumbent TNT Sports continues to threaten to match. The CEO of TNT Sports’ parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, has publicly stated he may attempt to use language in the current contract to remain involved with the NBA. If Zaslav goes through with that, he is expected to target Amazon’s package.

The next step is for the league’s governors to approve the agreements with ESPN, NBC and Amazon, which is expected to be a formality.

The board of governors has meetings Tuesday in Las Vegas. At some point following the final step by the league’s governors, the NBA will send the finished contracts to TNT Sports. The company will have five days to make its move. If it declines, then the NBA is expected to be an official announcement before the Olympics, which open on July 26.

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