Warner Bros. Discovery continues to have discussions with the NBA about retaining is media rights deal amid a competing offer from NBC worth $2.5 billion per year. While the NBA could renew with TNT as the incumbent, that is considered unlikely.
The NBA will likely sign papers with NBC and hat would trigger a contractual option for WBD to match. Both the NBA and WBD have reviewed legal language to determine whether a match right is legally in place. The language is believed to be vague where it is unclear if the NBA could walk away. The two sides could be headed toward a lawsuit.
WBD has a market valuation of about $20 billion and an enterprise value of about $60 billion, including $43.2 billion of gross debt, as of the end of the company’s fiscal first quarter. The NBA is more comfortable NBC can pay what would amount to more than double the previous price for the package. WBD had been paying $1.2 billion per year.
The NBA's new media rights deals with ESPN/ABC, Amazon and either NBC or TNT will triple from $24 billion over nine seasons to $76 billion or more over 11 seasons.