Comcast president and NBCUniversal CEO Mike Cavanagh took a victory lap on Tuesday’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2024 as the media giant closes in on a $2.5 billion per year NBA package.
“The NBA decision to partner with us is a testament to our breadth and reach, our operational excellence in sports and innovation, and our decades of experience to bring world class content to consumers, much like our long standing relationships with the NFL and the Olympics,” Cavanagh told analysts on Tuesday. “We look forward to putting the weight of our entire company behind our partnership with the NBA for decades to come.”
The executive noted that the agreement will bring in a “broad diverse and youthful audience” that is “culturally relevant” and will expand NBCU’s reach across broadcast and streaming.
“This new fan base will also allow us to create new entertainment content that will work beyond the basketball season, with exciting opportunities for companion programming and marketing collaborations that tap into the NBA pop culture appeal,” he said.
The package also completes the company’s year-round calendar for sports, which includes the NFL, the Olympics, the Premier League, NASCAR, the PGA Tour, the Big 10 and the World Cup.
He added that NBC-NBA partnership would “drive strong value” through ad sales growth, acquiring and monetizing subscribers on linear and Peacock and optimizing the company’s investment across sports entertainment and news.
The package, which begins in the 2025-2026 season and runs for 11 years, includes 100 NBA games each regular season across NBC and Peacock. Under the terms of the deal, the company will have first and second round playoff games each year exclusively on its national platform and six NBA conference final series over the course of the term of its deal.
Peacock will have approximately 50 national regular season and postseason games, including national Monday night games and double headers. The package also includes the annual NBA All Star game and All-Star Saturday night game each season, the season opening NBA tip off double header each season, a special double header on the MLK holiday and select NBA games and every NBA All Star game on Telemundo.
The package also includes more than 50 WNBA regular season and first round playoff games each season across Peacock, NBC and USA Network starting in spring 2026, as well as games in seven WNBA Conference semifinals and three WNBA finals series. Additionally, NBC have the rights to U.S. men’s and women’s basketball games leading up to the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
Sky Sports will air all of the company’s NBA and WNBA games in its markets and Xfinitiy will be the marching partner in the video category.
On Thursday, the league sent its finalized contracts with NBC, Amazon and Disney’s ABC/ESPN, reportedly worth $76 billion, to Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT Sports, which triggered a five-day window to decide whether to match one of the packages.
On Monday, WBD revealed that it submitted paperwork to match one of the packages, with an individual familiar with the matter telling TheWrap that it will target Amazon’s package. The tech giant is expected to pay $1.8 billion per year, while Disney will pay $2.6 billion, up from its current $1.5 billion.
An NBA spokesperson told TheWrap that it has received and is “in the process of reviewing” WBD’s proposal, though it is unclear if the league will ultimately allow the company to match.
“We don’t believe that the resolution of matching rights will affect the package that we expect to be awarded,” Cavanagh added.
Comcast shares fell over 5% during Tuesday’s trading session after the company posted mixed earnings results for its second quarter of 2024, which were weighed down by its Studios and Theme Park divisions.
