The NBA has agreed to terms on its new media deals, a record 11-year agreement worth $76 billion that would ensure player salaries keep rising for the foreseeable future and surely change how some viewers access the game for years to come. A person familiar with the negotiations told the AP that the networks have the terms sheets, with the next step being approval by the league's board of governors. A board of governors meeting is scheduled in Las Vegas next week. The league did not immediately comment. The agreement, which would set NBA records for both its length and total value, goes into effect for the 2025-26 season.
Games will continue airing on ESPN and ABC, and some will go to NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT Sports, which has been part of the league's broadcasting deals since the 1980s, could be on its way out but will have five days to match one of the deals. ESPN and ABC will still have the league's top package, which includes the NBA Finals and one of the conference finals series. ABC would continue to air games on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons once the NFL's regular season ends. ESPN's main nights would again be Wednesday, with some Friday and Sunday games. Finals exclusivity comes with a big price increase.
Walt Disney Co., which owns ESPN and ABC, will pay $2.6 billion per year compared to $1.4 billion in its current deal. The return of NBC, which carried NBA games from 1990 through 2002, gives the league two broadcast network partners for the first time. NBC—whose deal is expected to be for $2.5 billion per season—would showcase games on Sunday night once the NFL season has ended. It will air games on Tuesdays throughout the regular season while a Monday night package of games would be exclusively streamed on Peacock. Prime Video would have games on Thursdays after its NFL schedule ends; its other nights would be Friday and Saturday. Prime Video's deal would average $1.8 billion. In the short term, the deal almost certainly means the league's salary cap will rise 10% annually—the maximum allowed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
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