With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, the NBA has set its eyes back toward the future.
As one of the world’s leading sports leagues, it makes sense that the NBA would continue to get rewarded by increasingly lucrative new deals and monetary compensation.
According to a new report, the NBA will seek an enormous $75 billion rights package in 2024 — a stark increase from their current deal.
After the National Football League celebrated its history-making 11-year contract worth more than $100 billion, attention shifted to the NBA’s deal, which runs through the 2024-25 season. Early thinking within league circles suggests the NBA will seek a $75 billion rights package, up from its current $24 billion deal, which pays $2.6 billion per year.
It could also drastically increase the NBA salary cap, bringing a whole new world of financial opportunity for the players.
It wasn’t long ago we saw the first $200 million contract in NBA history. Stephen Curry signed one worth $201 million in 2017 and could be on the verge of signing another one soon. The 2025 cap spike will see $200 million contracts get normalized, and for the league’s elite, $300 million will become the new threshold.
Based off a cap that by 2025 sits at $171 million, a 35% max deal would start at $59.85 million and carry 8% annual raises. Over a five year period, that becomes $347.1 million with the final year being worth $79 million alone, which is $9 million more than the entire salary cap number in 2015. For NBA teams and NBA agents, it’s time to map out their financial futures.
Despite a dip in viewership during the pandemic, the NBA is taking steps in the right direction, implementing a play-in tournament that performed well over the past two seasons. With some more time to recover, it’s likely that things will keep trending upward.
Over the next few years, we’ll see players and teams specifically plan for this financial boom, and they should.
For the NBA, it’s only fitting that they aim for the sky, as they’re currently the second most popular league on the U.S. sports landscape.
