While the NBA is officially in a position to move forward without Warner Bros. Discovery, we’re now learning some new main points about how the league’s oldest media rights association ended.
In his Friday newsletter, Puck’s John Ourand published a detailed look at how WBD ended up left out of the NBA’s upcoming media rights deal. You can read this story, titled “How Zaz Lost the NBA,” here (subscription required).
Suffice it to say, several points contributed to the NBA ending its relationship with its longstanding media partner and WBD squandering its most valuable assets. With that in mind, here are the five craziest main points from the NBA-WBD split.
Perhaps the craziest facet of the breakup is that WBD allegedly helped facilitate the league’s negotiations with his imaginable replacement.
As The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported earlier this week, WBD was the first to advise that the NBA begin negotiations with Amazon before the league’s exclusive negotiating window with WBD and ESPN ended. Ourand’s story confirms Marchand’s report, noting that WBD did so because the NBA’s preference for locating a streaming spouse had stalled negotiations.
Unsurprisingly, the league eagerly accepted WBD’s offer, and Disney (ESPN) agreed to allow Amazon to participate in the negotiations. For what it’s worth, WBD resources told Ourand that the suggestion came from ESPN or herself.
WBD’s idea that hosting Amazon would create a three-partner set with itself, Disney and the e-commerce giant. Instead, WBD ultimately ran out of chairs when the music stopped, and the NBA opted for deals with ESPN, Amazon and Comcast (NBC).
– Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 24, 2024
WBD’s negotiations with the NBA required several red tape, and according to Ourand, the media conglomerate felt the league was “constantly moving the goalposts during the process. ” Although it appears the two sides came close to an agreement in On several occasions, WBD alleges that the NBA continually replaced its negotiating themes with the exclusive negotiating window, adding only five convention finals were provided in the 11 years of the agreement, compared to at least one each season (this confirms previous reports by Bill Simmons).
It is said that WBD was not the only contender for which the NBA was “constantly modifying” its offerings, and Disney was allegedly dissatisfied that it had only won 10 convention Finals series and five WNBA Finals in the 11 years of the package. However, unlike WBD, Disney has nevertheless controlled to strike a deal.
Although the NBA has replaced its position several times, WBD thought it had a strong negotiating position when it left the exclusive trade window last April. So much so that, according to Ourand, WBD told the league that its last offer in the window would be the most productive and that negotiations would start from scratch.
The tactic proved futile – even catastrophic – and NBC’s access to the negotiations took WBD by surprise. If WBD thought that no other suitor would be willing to offer as much to the NBA as he did, that was obviously not the case, as it was telling that WBD tried (unsuccessfully) to fit into the NBA’s $1. 8 billion annual deal with Amazon. than the $2. 5 billion consistent with NBC’s annual package.
A tick-tock of how the NBA negotiations went. https://t. co/ij24fhrt4n
— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) July 26, 2024
Earlier this year, ESPN, WBD, and Fox announced plans to launch a joint streaming service, which we now know will be called “Venu. “While the partnership was positive for WBD, it would have arguably also played a key role in its breakup with the NBA, and Ourand reported that the prospect of Venu having NBA rights deals between Disney and WBD has motivated Comcast to strike its own deal.
In addition, Comcast is aware that WBD’s loss of the NBA would likely weaken the media company’s influence in its broadcast rights negotiations with Comcast’s Xfinity cable systems. Aware that it would be difficult to beat an incumbent on a portion of the rights deal, Comcast made an annual offer of $2. 5 billion for the package for which WBD had bid. WBD refused to fall in line, reinforcing only the concept that NBC’s access to the negotiations took it by surprise.
While it wasn’t necessarily unexpected that WBD tried to fit in as part of the NBA’s rights package, the league would have been surprised to have tried to do so with its Amazon deal.
According to Ourand, WBD felt that its corresponding rights were enforceable because Amazon was about to obtain parts of the package it had in the past. For the NBA, Amazon’s deal was streaming-only, making WBD ineligible.
WBD tried to do it anyway, and the NBA maintained its position that the streaming-only package and that Prime Video’s success far outpaces WBD’s Max streaming service. The league also argued that the line of credit the company received to accommodate Amazon’s “poison pill” was not priced the same as the actual transaction.
In the end, the league rejected the adjustment attempt and moved forward with Disney, Comcast and Amazon, leaving WBD to consider conceivable legal action.
In recent months, there has been no shortage of hypotheses and news regarding NBA negotiations, especially in relation to its imminent break with WBD. Ourand’s report, however, offers the most complete and detailed look at one of the craziest negotiations in sports media. take a stand in recent memory, with many consequences yet to come.
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Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape and recently ran for NBC partner WKYC in Cleveland. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State and Big Ten football for outlets such as Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout, and rivals.
“What surprises me is that so many guys didn’t make it. “
“When I was at ACCN and ESPN, I never dreamed of hosting ‘SportsCenter. ‘”
“I feel fortunate to have had my dream assignment with the NBA’s most productive production team and most productive analyst, Sean Elliott. “
The NFL promoting its overseas games in a separate package appears to be gaining momentum.
“What surprises me is that so many guys didn’t make it. “
“When I was at ACCN and ESPN, I never dreamed of hosting ‘SportsCenter. ‘”
“I feel truly fortunate to have had my dream job with the NBA’s top production team and best analyst, Sean Elliott. “
The NFL promoting its overseas games in a separate package is gaining momentum.