The ball is in the NBA’s court, so to speak.
After days of television coverage about the NBA’s future, weeks of speculation about the possible end of TNT’s relationship with the NBA (and the dissolution of its award-winning studio programming), and months of negotiations with multiple media conglomerates, the NBA Finals kicked off Thursday night with no clear public timeline for when a deal would be announced.
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“Nobody likes this uncertainty,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at his pregame press conference, pointing out in particular the awkward limbo employees of TNT’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, as well as the cast members. Behind the scenes of the NBA“The players have been dealing with a number of issues with their careers hanging in the balance. It is now the responsibility of the league office to finalize these negotiations and bring them to a conclusion as quickly as possible.”
As things stand, ESPN is expected to retain the top package, including the rights to broadcast the NBA Finals, with NBC and Amazon likely to return or sign new deals as partners of the league, respectively. It’s unclear how Warner Bros. Discovery fits into the situation, though. One reported issue concerns matching rights that WBD may use to retain the package. Silver declined to comment on specifics about how that language would work.
Of course, there’s still work to be done after the deal is signed, and Silver reiterated that the league plans to explore expansion possibilities once a new media deal is in place.
“I’m actually very excited to begin that process,” Silver said of expansion. He even hinted at the possibility of adding a franchise outside the U.S. The NBA has previously played 14 regular-season games in Mexico City, but added, “now might not be the right time to do that.” Instead, league officials expect Seattle and Las Vegas to be the front-runners for the 31st and 32nd NBA teams.
For Silver, the international game was a top priority. In his opening remarks, he noted that the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics boast a record 13 players born outside the United States in the Finals. If the Mavericks pull off an upset in the series, guard Luka Doncic would likely become just the third player born outside the United States to win the NBA Finals MVP award in four years, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic. (The only other player to win such an award was San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker in 2007.)
“I was watching Luka yesterday and he grew up in Slovenia, trained in Madrid, Spain and was being interviewed in three languages,” Silver said. “He’s just the epitome of the modern NBA.”
Meanwhile, institutional capital continues to flow into the capital tables of franchises across the U.S. Silver said he doesn’t expect co-investors to take ownership stakes in teams, but is open to expanding the criteria for the types of funds that can invest at the team level.
“We have had institutional investors come to us who are not adhering to our current policies or funds. [asking]”We asked, ‘Would you consider adjusting some of your policies?'” Silver said, “to ease up on some of the restrictions, and that’s something we’ll continue to look at.”
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