The changes are almost about to unravel for the NBA’s new media rights as two generations will move on from their usual source of consuming NBA news from TNT Sports. The latest developments in the deal regarding the new media rights have nearly confirmed the transfer of TV rights of the basketball league to Disney, NBC Sports, and Amazon. However, amid skepticism over the distribution rights of the league, the $76 billion, 11-year-old deal is yet to be officially finalized by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

As per the Front Office Sports sources, the NBA Board of Governors has approved the lucrative deal. Well, it is also the need of the hour for the league, considering the viewership plummeting down 12% in comparison to the 2022-23 season playoffs across ABC, TNT Sports, and ESPN. With such an ambitious deal, the league has already surpassed the double of the previous media rights ownership. But it is not coming to Silver without any repercussions as there is no discussion over the in-house media assets in the deal, which are NBA TV and NBA.com.

Interestingly, TNT Sports and the league have been handling the joint venture for the last 16 years. However, in case TNT does not match the offer from Amazon or any other network, Adam Silver is unsure about the future of those properties. When Silver was asked about the development regarding the outlets, he responded obliviously, “I don’t know. There’s too much still in play.”

Additionally, MSG Network executive James Dolan has threatened the league of pursuing potential legal action in case it does not think over the concern he raised earlier this week, arguing that the agreements are highly disruptive to local broadcasts.

Nevertheless, the future of these outlets depends on the offers presented by the networks after approval from the league’s Board of Governors, and Adam Silver has revealed nothing about it.

Leading contenders for the Adam Silver’s League’s new media rights

Unsurprisingly, NBA Commissioner Silver has restrained himself from making any comment on the networks that are going to participate in bidding for the deal, stating, “Much of it is out of my control.” However, as per Front Office Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery has received the BOG-consented right deal from the league by the end of Wednesday. The targeted offer that they are looking to match up is to contest for the games package of the league with Amazon.

For now, Disney, Comcast, NBC Universal, and Amazon are on the front end of the offers with their different packages of the league, including the WNBA rights. Ultimately, the league is treading slowly in the dilution of the rights since various networks are involved in the bidding war, and tense competition makes it sensitive to strike a deal quite soon.

That’s why Adam Silver has not spoken much on the matter. There are chances that there might be no official revelation until the networks respond to the Board of Governors’ approved deal and present their offers. Who do you think will strike the deal for the new rights? Let us know in the comments.