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Is There Life After the NBA?

The NBA is closing in on a whopping $76 billion for its media rights packages, partly because there won’t be anything else to buy for a very, very long time.

nba Jayson Tatum boston celtics
The NBA may be a league with great stars and incredible content, but it’s also benefiting from the fact that there won’t be any other major rights to acquire for the foreseeable future.  Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images
John Ourand
June 7, 2024

There are four big reasons why the NBA is on the cusp of signing $76 billion worth of contracts for its media rights packages, nearly tripling its current deals. Some of them are obvious, others less so. For starters, of course, the league has a young and ferociously dedicated fan base, and its largest events draw massive audiences—the NBA Finals, for example, attracts up to 15 million viewers per game. And yes, these rights have come up at a time when the largest mediacos are simultaneously managing the decline of their linear businesses while orienting their streaming strategies around live sports.