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The NBA and WNBA have inked a deal to broadcast and stream games for the next 11 years. The NBA deal runs from the 2025-2026 season through the 2035-2036 season, while the WNBA deal runs from the 2026 to 2036 seasons.
Professional basketball has been ESPN’s flagship program for many years. ContinueThe Disney-owned network will remain the primary media rights holder for both leagues. ESPN will be the exclusive broadcaster of the NBA Finals for all 11 years of the new deal and the exclusive broadcaster of the WNBA Finals for five of the 11 years. Games covered under ESPN’s deal will be part of the sports network’s direct-to-consumer platform, and packages of NBA and WNBA games will also be available to stream on Disney+ in select international markets.
While the majority of games will be broadcast by ESPN, basketball is becoming more widely streamed thanks to two new partnerships. NBC and Peacock are access It will stream up to 100 national NBA games during the regular season. Approximately 50 games will be exclusively available on the Peacock streaming platform, including national Monday night games and doubleheaders. The remaining games will be available on Amazon. Prime Video will stream 66 regular season games. NBA games 30 regular season games WNBA games Each year of the contract term.
Those who watch basketball regularly may notice that TNT Sports is not included in this lineup. The NBA’s contract with the network is not expected to be extended beyond next year, and these games will primarily be broadcast on Amazon. However, the situation may go into overtime. TNT Sports The NBA said it paid Amazon the same amount to provide its games, seemingly disputing whether the NBA can change partners. The offer from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t match Amazon’s offer, leaving them free to shop elsewhere.
The long-awaited agreement between the two basketball leagues isn’t a total deal-breaker for fans. On the plus side, the next decade will see a big shift towards streaming. After sports have long been closely tied to broadcast programming, it’s great to have access to it as part of existing streaming plans. But on the downside, multiple media partners mean you have to double and triple check where you’re going to watch each game. For example, Major League Baseball has games on any given night spread across ESPN, Fox, Apple TV+, TNT Sports and MLB Network.