They seem pretty much to be at around $7 billion, not as much as the $8 billion that the NBA talked about but pretty close.
The NBA's new media rights deals could surpass $7 billion per season, which would represent an increase of nearly 170 percent from its current $2.6 billion per deals with ESPN and TNT. According to reported figures, the combined rights fees from ESPN, Amazon and NBC (or TNT) are at $6.9 billion per season.
Amazon will pay approximately $1.8 billion per season, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. The deal will include the Conference Finals every other year as they will alternate with whoever wins the third rights between NBC and TNT. It also will include the NBA Cup and In-Season Tournament.
TNT can match NBC's offer of $2.5 billion per season and talks are ongoing.
ESPN's deal with the NBA, which includes the Finals and Conference Finals on an annual basis, will cost $2.6 billion per year.
A report in 2021 indicated that the NBA was seeking anywhere between $7 billion and $8 billion per year on its next deal. After a 2023 report cooled those expectations with a doubling of the current deal a more probable target, the NBA appears to be close to reaching its goal.
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/275638/NBAs-Next-Media-Rights-Deals-Closing-In-On-$7-Billion-Per-SeasonAmazing that NBA got Amazon to bite on the In-Season Tournament and the NBA Cup -- aren't they the same thing?
So the only outstanding issue appears to be whether WBD will match the NBA offer to keep the NBA games on TNT.
For perspective, the NFL signed a deal a couple of years ago for 10 years at $10 billion a year, which includes Amazon getting the Thursday Night Football package.
NFL should get more money, because they generate much higher ratings than NBA games. But if the NBA gets $7-8 billion, that's a lot more bang for the buck, considering the ratings gap between NFL and NBA games.
Bill Simmons had a theory, that NBA has so much more social media following that in some ways, it's more valuable to the networks than the ratings of the NBA games. There are a lot of people who follow the NBA, especially social media, but they don't actually sit down and watch a lot of the games.
He said there are too many games and if they cut it to 72 games or even shorter, each game would get higher ratings than currently. He pointed out that the highest ratings for NBA was back in 2011 in the strike-shortened 66-game season. NBA had to quickly set up a shortened season and didn't get to promote it much. But individual broadcasts of NBA games averaged higher ratings.
The other theory is that the networks are losing their grip, fewer viewers every year as people cut the cord. So live sports are one of the few things which keep people paying for cable TV. But also, the networks are more desperate to keep rights to the games so they may pay more and on a relatively basis, the networks are paying more for the NBA than the NFL, mainly because the NBA deal came up for renewal later.
There's also a quiet competition brewing between the NFL and the NBA. Thursday Night Football forced TNT to cut back on NBA games on Thursday Nights during the NFL season. Not only that, NFL is now coming for the Christmas Day games.
The next NFL contract could be even crazier, which will ultimately lead to higher cable TV and streaming subscription fees, more than likely.