Deputy Commissioner of the NBA, Mark Tatum, addressed journalists on a global media call ahead of the 2024 NBA Finals, revealing to Fadeaway World the status of the NBA’s media rights negotiations after reports suggested a final agreement has been signed.
In a question about a possible NBA expansion, Tatum made it clear that talks on the media rights deal are progressing but the league is yet to decide their future, despite the Wall Street Journal reporting the terms of the deal.
Ishaan Bhattacharya, Fadeaway World: “What’s the status of a possible NBA expansion now that the NBA is close to finalizing the Media Rights Deal, based on today’s Wall Street Journal report? Will the NBA wait to evaluate the possibility of an expansion until the new media rights deals are in place?”
Mark Tatum, Deputy Commissioner of the NBA: “We have always said, publicly, Adam (Silver) has said this as well. Before we focused on expansion, there were two things we needed to address. The first was the CBA, which we did, and the second was the media deals, which we’re in the process of doing. Nothing is done or complete yet, but we’re having great conversations and we’re progressing towards that. As you all know, our deals with our incumbent partners end after next season. Now is the right time for us to be engaging and having discussions about the future after that. We’re making great progress there.”
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the NBA is nearing a media rights deal that could net the league $76 billion over 11 seasons. NBC is expected to replace TNT and pay an average of $2.5 billion yearly to broadcast around 100 NBA games each season.
ESPN is expected to pay an average of $2.6 billion each year while maintaining rights to air the NBA Finals. Amazon is expected to join as a third partner, paying $1.8 billion for streaming rights in a package expected to feature regular-season games and postseason games, including a portion of the Conference Finals
Tatum has clarified that an agreement on these lines hasn’t been finalized, but given the credibility of the Wall Street Journal, we could see similar terms announced in a few weeks.
The announcement would mark the end of the iconic TNT show ‘Inside the NBA,’ which will officially be entering its final season on TNT for the 2024-25 season.
With the future of American media rights in question, fans across the world will have unfettered access to the 2024 NBA Finals. Games will reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 60 languages on their televisions, computers, mobile devices, and tablets.
Game 1 between the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics will be available for fans across India on JioCinema, Sports18 – 1 (HD & SD), Sports18 – 3, Sports18 Khel, and NBA League Pass at 6:00 AM (IST) on June 7.
The NBA Is Not Looking At A League Expansion Soon
There have growing rumblings of the NBA headed towards an expansion and adding two new teams to the league for years. The league has been in its 30-team guise for over two decades, with a clear desire to see more teams compete to provide opportunities to more players while distributing talent around the league.
Mark Tatum rebuffed ideas about an expansion coming to the NBA anytime soon, with the league not planning on starting the process to see if an expansion is feasible until all their open deals are finalized.
“Once those two things are done (CBA and Media Rights), we do think it sets the table for us to evaluate whether or not it makes sense to expand. We’ll go through a process at the time with our team governors and owners, we’ll do some analysis to see if it makes sense. It hasn’t been a priority up until this point, the priority has been the CBA and the media agreements. Once those things are done, we’ll start turning our focus to determining if it makes sense to look at expanding.”
There have already been multiple parties expressing interest in owning an expansion NBA franchise, especially among players. LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal have openly discussed the possibility of owning an expansion team in Las Vegas, while Kevin Durant is interested in becoming a team owner to bring back the franchise that drafted him, the Seattle SuperSonics.
The league should consider these options as soon as they become feasible. The existing owners might not be thrilled at further diluting the pool of competition, but it would make the league more compelling while bringing new teams to existing fanbases instead of possible relocations by small-market teams in the future.
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