The NBA will not leave the world leader in sports; It's just not official yet.
According to a report by Puck's John Ourand, Disney's (DES) ESPN and the NBA have “essentially come to an agreement” about keeping the league on ESPN/ABC airwaves even though the NBA opened up to negotiations with other networks earlier this week.
The framework of the deal reportedly includes ESPN taking the NBA's top package, which would include exclusive rights to the NBA Finals. However, the deal would likely include fewer games, allowing the NBA to make room for another non-incumbent partner, ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. (W.B.D.) Turner.
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Puck reported that Turner does not yet have the same deal with the NBA, but there have been “productive” conversations. All reports have pointed to WBD keeping the NBA with the same stipulation of fewer games for the NBA to add one or two additional partners.
Those other partners will likely include a streaming service, and Comcast's (CMCSA) NBC/Peacock is reportedly one of the strongest players. NBC, which had the rights to the NBA in the 1990s, is seeking a package that includes games on linear television and on Peacock.
The report indicates that NBC is the biggest competition for WBD's package, but earlier this week it was revealed that both ESPN and WBD have the right to match any competing offer.
Related: ESPN and Turner Have Secret Move to Retain NBA Broadcast Rights
There is also interest from amazon. (AMZN) to enter the fold through Prime Video, and while Puck's latest report says the tech giant is “likely” to reach a deal with the NBA, there's still a lot to figure out before that happens.
Netflix (NFLX) and apple (AAPL) They are also reportedly still in the fold, but are behind the rest, while Google (GOOG) is still interested in bringing the NBA League Pass league streaming package through YouTube TV. This makes sense since the company acquired NFL Sunday Ticket last year and is already investing a whopping $2 billion annually into the service.
The finances of the upcoming media rights deal are unclear, although the NBA is hoping for a figure that doubles the current $2.7 billion annual average it receives from ESPN and Turner.
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