With streamers like Amazon, YouTube, and Netflix making plays for football broadcasts, the NBA and WNBA are joining in the streaming wars.
The leagues have announced 11-year streaming deals with Prime Video, Disney, and NBCUniversal.
Each of the networks will pay the NBA upwards of $1 billion each year of the deal for streaming rights. Amazon is paying $1.93 billion, Comcast – NBC’s parent company – is paying $2.45 billion, and Disney is paying $2.62 billion annually.
“Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”
How will it work?
The new agreement will kick off with the 2025-2026 season and run through the 2035-2036 NBA and WNBA seasons. Each streaming platform has its own unique setup, and the NBA app will be the central point that directs consumers to the appropriate network for each game.
For the regular season, the breakdown on each platform is as follows:
Prime Video: 66 regular-season games, including Thursday night doubleheaders, Friday evening doubleheaders, select Saturday afternoon games, at least one game on Black Friday, and the Quarterfinals and Semifinals in the Knockout Round of the Emirates NBA Cup. Prime will also stream 30 regular-season WNBA games.
Disney: 80 regular-season games, including more than 20 games on NBC and up to 60 games on ESPN. ABC/ESPN will also host all five NBA Christmas Day games, as well as the All Star Celebrity Game, the NBA Draft, the NBA Draft Lottery, and half of all NBA Summer League games. Disney will also stream a minimum of 25 WNBA games throughout the regular season.
NBCUniversal: 100 regular-season games, with more than half of the games airing on NBC. Additionally, NBC will become the home of all things NBA All Star, including: Rising Stars, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, AT&T Slam Dunk Contest, Starry 3-Point Contest, Kia Skills Challenge, and the All-Star Game. Peacock will also stream a doubleheader each Monday night of the season, and NBC will air 50 regular-season WNBA games.
What about the playoffs?
Similarly, the breakdown for the playoffs includes:
Amazon Prime: Prime Video will distribute all six SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games, as well as one-third of all first and second round games each year. Prime will also be rotating with NBCU on streaming one of two Conference Finals games each year, in addition to one WNBA first-round series annually.
Disney: ABC/ESPN will stream 18 games in the first two rounds each year and one of the two Conference Finals series in 10 of the 11 years of this agreement. Under the new agreement, ABC remains the distributor of the NBA Finals. Disney will also air two WNBA first-round playoffs series per year.
NBCU: NBC or peacock will stream 28 games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, with at least half the games on NBC. The streamer will also host one first-round WNBA series annually. All three networks will rotate the Semifinals and Finals of the WNBA, with Prime Video and NBC each airing seven Semifinals series and three Finals series, and Disney streaming eight Semifinals series and five Finals series.
It’s also important to note that ESPN will be launching its own streaming platform, and any games available through ABC/ESPN will also be available on the new platform once it goes live.