Media and entertainment heavyweight Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has officially matched retail giant Amazon’s bid as it seeks to retain a package of domestic rights to North American basketball’s NBA.
Amazon agreed on an 11-year deal with the league worth $1.8 billion annually but it remains unclear if it will be awarded the rights after WBD exercised its matching clause at the last minute.
WBD had looked set to lose NBA rights after its exclusive negotiating window with the league ended in April with no agreement, allowing the NBA to agree deals with three partners for the next cycle – incumbent Disney/ESPN, NBC, and Amazon.
The 11-year deals with the trio, worth around $76 billion, were ratified last week by the NBA Board of Governors and are due to start from the 2025-26 season.
WBD received all three contracts last Wednesday, which started a five-day countdown for whether it wanted to match, which ended yesterday (July 22).
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a recent press conference that the league has approved “this stage of those media proposals.”
However, WBD-owned Turner Sports is not prepared to call time on its long-standing relationship with the NBA without a fight.
WBD said in a statement: “We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them. This will 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.
“Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”
Amazon’s deal is set to include regular-season and playoff games and a share of the conference finals, which will reportedly be rotated between the NBA’s media partners.
WBD is likely to propose splitting games between its TNT network and Max streaming service.
Turner has had a partnership with the NBA since 1984 and games have been airing on TNT since the network launched in 1988.
WBD’s decision to exercise its matching clause could potentially turn into a legal battle with the NBA over the interpretations of the terms in the contract.
According to The New York Times, while TNT has the contractual right to match an offer, per its current contract, the NBA is expected to decline the network’s right to take the agreed-upon Amazon package. The league’s preference is to honor the contract it agreed to with Amazon.
The outlet also reports that TNT could sue to stay in business with the NBA if the parties can’t agree on a deal.
The Associated Press has reported that Amazon's offer included a provision to pay multiple years up front into an escrow account, which many thought would make it hard to match. However, WBD has told the league it has the financial resources to be able to do that too.
The NBA is widely expected to formally announce its new media rights deals this week, ideally before the start of the Olympics.
In terms of the other broadcasters, NBC will pay an average of $2.5 billion a year to the NBA and show around 100 games per season, with half to air on its Peacock OTT platform.
Disney, meanwhile, will pay the largest amount at around $2.6 billion per year, up from $1.5 billion in the current agreement, and continue to show one Conference Finals each year and the NBA Finals. However, ESPN and ABC will air fewer games under the new deal.
TNT and ESPN’s current deals, worth a combined total of $24 billion, run through the 2024-25 season.
