Warner Bros. Discovery submitted paperwork on Monday to exercise matching rights for the NBA.
The move comes after the league sent its finalized, 11-year contracts with Amazon, NBC and Disney/ESPN, reportedly worth about $76 billion, to the media giant for review on Thursday, triggering a five-day window to decide whether to match.
“We’re proud of how we have delivered for basketball fans by providing best-in-class coverage throughout our four-decade partnership with the NBA. In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strong bids that were fair to both parties,” TNT Sports said in a statement. “Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it.”
TNT noted that it “reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” though an individual familiar with the matter tells TheWrap that it will target Amazon’s $1.8 billion per year package, which would bring NBA games to the tech giant’s Prime Video streaming service.
The network said its move would “allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years.”
“We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract,” the company added.
It remains unclear if the NBA will allow Warner to match Amazon’s package. An NBA spokesperson told TheWrap that it has received and is “in the process of reviewing” WBD’s proposal.
Sports commentator Bill Simmons told Puck that the structure of Amazon’s NBA deal would have the tech giant pay the league three years’ worth of rights payments up front, totaling approximately $5.4 billion to be held in escrow, a move that could potentially block WBD’s match.
The individual familiar with WBD’s decision-making further noted that the company has secured a letter of credit that would help cover that payment.
In addition to Amazon’s $1.8 billion per year package, NBCUniversal is expected to pay the NBA an average of $2.5 billion a year to show around 100 games per season — half of which would air exclusively on Peacock, an individual familiar with the terms previously confirmed to TheWrap. The games would air on NBC on Tuesdays and Sundays to avoid conflicting with the network’s “Sunday Night Football.”
Meanwhile, Disney is expected to pay about $2.6 billion per year to continue to air the NBA Finals, up from its current $1.5 billion, with the company getting fewer games than its current deal and ESPN airing games on its upcoming direct-to-consumer service slated to launch in 2025, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The deals would take effect starting after the 2024-25 season. Representatives for Amazon declined to comment.
