Much has been made of the fact that the NBA is about to wrap up negotiations on a new, gigantic media rights deal that is not slated to include Turner. A longtime league television partner, Turner appears slated to be on the outside looking in, as ESPN, Amazon, and NBC have the inside track on being the NBA’s three TV partners.
There are two potential paths forward for Turner, assuming it wants to keep its relationship with the league going. One is to cut a late deal for a fourth rights package, although it is unclear what that looks like. The other involves their reported right to match one of the packages, and according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, we have an idea of when that will happen.
TNT got the contracts Wednesday night, say my sources. So it will have approximately five days, until next Monday, to “match” either Amazon Prime Video’s $1.8 billion–per-year offer or NBC’s $2.5 billion–per-year bid. (Disney’s ABC/ESPN is expected to retain the NBA’s TV “A” package, including the NBA Finals, at a price of $2.8 billion per year.)
McCarthy went on to report that, if Turner matched, the more likely option would be that it matched Prime’s package. While that would be an easier lift financially, there has been reporting that the NBA could argue that Turner has to be able to match more than just the money that Amazon or NBC would throw their way. Regardless, it sounds like there should be some clarity on what’s coming next sooner rather than later.