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Silver’s Spoons

As it turns out, the NBA did a whole lot more negotiating with ESPN and WBD during their exclusive rights window, which expires tonight, and now they appear closer than ever to a deal. As the clock strikes 12, the heat is on NBCU, Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube.

Adam Silver
Netflix and Amazon offer a tantalizing opportunity for commissioner Adam Silver, who has repeatedly expressed excitement about the benefits of streaming. Photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
John Ourand
April 22, 2024

I don’t want to get all meta and mise-en-scène for The Varsity audience, but a funny thing happened to me this morning as I was writing this very story about how the NBA’s exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery would end at midnight tonight sans any deals. As I typed away, I started to receive a flurry of texts and calls from well-wired sources in the center of the action, a number of whom suggested that handshake agreements could be reached among the parties before the clock struck 12. “It’s a coin flip,” one executive told me. “Stay close to your phone.”