[Sports Business Journal] YouTube in discussions with NBA for aggregated streaming hub
The NBA media rights deal 2.0 is all about local broadcasts and the cha-ching that could come with it. Sources tell SBJ that the NBA and YouTube remain in advanced talks about a 2027-28 aggregated hub for 20 to 25 teams – and eventually 29 of the league’s 30 clubs – for a potential price tag north of $1B.
Some in the industry expect either a deal or stalemate by possibly this fall – the latter of which could open the door for DAZN, ESPN or Amazon. But as of now, sources contend YouTube (whose head of sports and live partnerships Jen Chun spent nine years at the league office) is the favorite to acquire the moving target that is local NBA TV.
The gray area of who’s in and who’s out is the holdup for now. Sources said the league – which declined comment – envisions a scenario in Year 1 where local telecasts for at least 25 teams are streamed and geofenced exclusively in one place. Meanwhile, perhaps four more franchises (minus the Raptors, who have an ironclad deal with Rogers Communications) could simulcast games in the hub and arrive full-time later in waves. That would make 29.
The more teams, the merrier. Sources believe if the NBA can offer YouTube 29 clubs, it will want roughly \(1.2B in return. Then, the league would siphon off rights fees to each team individually, based on market value. For instance, the Heat and Sixers would get a larger piece of the \)1.2B pie than the Grizzlies or Pelicans but likely less than the Lakers and Knicks (two unknowns who we’ll get to).
Apparently, there’s too much unknown for YouTube to pull the trigger now. It needs to know which teams are opting in, who’s controlling the inventory, whether there will be local OTA simulcasts, etc.
Then there’s the question of the marquee Lakers and Knicks, the Lakers being the truest unknown. With the team about to be resold for \(12.5B to the Josh Kushner/Bob Iger group, the future of the Lakers’ local broadcast partner Spectrum SportsNet becomes more pertinent. **Kushner/Iger would stand to earn \)199.78M in local rights fees in 2026-27, \(209.76M in 2027-28 and \)218.14M in 2028-29 – basically $200M more than almost every other team in the league.** That’s money they’d presumably be counting on and money the NBA’s hub presumably cannot match. So will the Lakers opt into the league model? It might depend on whether Charter Communications actually sells Spectrum SportsNet and whether the buyer wants to negotiate the rights fee down.
The Knicks, whose intra-company rights fee with MSG for this season is $110.84M, might be a more certain opt-in to the hub, but probably not exclusively. One source said they could conceivably start out with 15 games digitally on YouTube’s platform, then “cut it up with a stair step over the next few years to get them fully exclusive.”
Either way, DAZN is waiting in the wings if YouTube waffles. The digital platform is about to house a third of the NBA this coming season in either exclusive or non-exclusive deals (the T’Wolves, Cavaliers, Pacers, Spurs, Grizzlies being exclusive, and the Hornets, Magic, Wizards, Knicks and Nets or more being non-exclusive). By doing so, it can prove to the league it could handle the aggregated hub in 2027-28, although sources said DAZN may have to pay a premium, perhaps $1.4B, to outbid a more mainstream company such as YouTube.