As is the case every time the NBA Finals roll around, commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media in his yearly press conference on Thursday evening ahead of Game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. Several topics, from the officiating to the WNBA with Caitlyn Clark, were presented to Silver. But the elephant in the room before the commissioner spoke was the new media rights deals being discussed.
The NBA is in the midst of negotiations on lucrative media rights deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon that would bring in roughly $76 million in revenue over the next decade. However, Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Turner Sports and TNT, has not been as prominently involved in these deals as many would have expected given the four-decade-long relationship the league has held with the company. This has led to major conversations about whether Inside the NBA, a beloved program featuring Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny “The Jet” Smith, and Charles Barkley, is on its way out.
Silver specifically addressed these rumors pertaining to Inside the NBA and the new media rights deals, citing that no decision has been made as of just yet.
“Of course, there's discussions with our incumbents and other interested parties. It is incredibly complex,” Silver stated at the NBA Finals. “It's complicated for several reasons. One is the advent of new platforms, particularly streaming, and the interest of streaming companies, and then the traditional media companies also carrying our games on streaming platforms. It's complicated with multiple partners all seeking similar assets.”
As far as the NBA on TNT goes, Silver claimed that it has “been difficult” throughout negotiations and that Inside the NBA is a huge influence on the league as a whole.
“That show in particular is special. I have a close relationship with everyone who's on that show, from the time they played in the league, as well, and Ernie and I have been friends forever,” Silver continued. “On one hand, from the league standpoint, it's fantastic to be liked and to be wanted and to have multiple suitors. At the same time, it makes me uncomfortable that it's zero sum, that at the end of the day there's only going to be so many television packages, there's only so many Finals games and playoff games and regular-season games to distribute.
“I think it's on the league office to bring these negotiations to a head and conclude them as quickly as we can.”
Is Inside the NBA ending with new media rights deals?
Over the last several weeks, there has been a lot of talk surrounding Warner being left out of the league's new media rights deal. However, they still have the ability to match any offer that the NBA agrees to with any outside companies that look to negotiate new deals in place of their current media agreement. Essentially, Warner Bros. Discovery will have the right to match NBC's offer to overtake their current media licensing deal with the NBA.
More recently, it was reported that Warner and the NBA have been talking about a potential smaller media package outside of the deals involving ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. In this deal, Inside the NBA would remain a staple of the league, as Warner would be given the rights to regular-season and some playoff games, according to Front Office Sports.
This appears to be the most likely outcome at this time, especially with the NBA progressing towards finalizing agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon on their individual deals.
Still, these negotiations have taken a toll on everyone involved with Inside the NBA, especially Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
“Morale sucks. Plain and simple. I just feel so bad for the people I work with, Dan,” Barkley told Dan Patrick recently. “These people have families, and I just really feel bad for them right now. You know, these people I work with, they screwed this thing up clearly, and we don’t have zero idea of what’s going to happen.”
Further discussions between Warner Bros. Discovery and the league are expected to be held over the course of the NBA offseason.
Adam Silver discusses potential NBA expansion
As is the case every time Adam Silver steps up to the microphone, the idea of NBA expansion was once again brought to light. It is inevitable that the NBA will expand at some point, but the question of when this will happen remains at the forefront of everyone's minds. This is especially true with the wide array of talent across the NBA, as well as interest continuing to grow outside of the United States.
Silver, who has made it clear in the past that the media rights deals were the first order of business for the NBA before potential expansion could be discussed, once again echoed similar remarks to reporters on Thursday.
“Media deals, it's been a long process. It's ongoing, and we hope to wrap it up in the relative near term, and then we will turn to expansion. But by turning to expansion it doesn't mean we're going to announce that now we're ready to add teams. It means that there will be a committee of NBA governors that will focus on it. There are clearly markets out there that are very interested and will run through a process,” Silver pointed out. “But I actually am looking forward to that. I think that the league, it's not preordained that we will expand this time, but I know there's an enormous amount of interest out there.”
Interest in the NBA continues to expand each and every year. In fact, Silver not only addressed this topic, but he also made it a point of emphasis to state that the league will consider destinations outside of the United States for potential expansion teams when those discussions are held.
“At some point, we'd like to look outside the United States, in addition to Canada. This may not be the right moment to do that, but I'm thinking long term, as well.”
In the event that the league does look to expand, Las Vegas and Seattle have long been viewed as the most prominent destinations for potential expansion teams. Las Vegas has hosted the NBA Summer League every year since 2004, and the city itself houses many other professional sports leagues. The WNBA has found a lot of success with the Las Vegas Aces in recent years, as they have won back-to-back championships. Seattle, on the other hand, originally had the SuperSonics, who rebranded and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.
When the NBA is ready to expand, Silver will open up those conversations with the league office. Until then, his focus remains on the media rights deals, specifically if there is a deal to keep Inside the NBA as the pinnacle of NBA media on television.
“I'm actually very excited about turning to that process, but first we've just got to be finished with the media deals.”
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