SI

Amazon Prime Expected to Be Major Player in NBA’s Broadcast Future

A report states the streaming service will air NBA playoffs and conference finals games.

Jimmy Traina

The future of the NBA on TNT appears murky.
The future of the NBA on TNT appears murky. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

1. Although Amazon is expected to land the NBA’s “C” package in the upcoming television rights deals that will begin with the 2025-26 season, that designation is in title only because Prime’s haul of games will be significant.

According to a new report from Puck’s John Ourand (last week’s SI Media Podcast guest), Amazon Prime is likely to land a Saturday night window for the regular season. More importantly, though, the streaming service is also expected to gain the rights to first- and second-round playoff games as well as one conference finals series every other year.

It’s expected that Amazon will split the conference finals with either NBC or Warner Brothers Discovery (TNT), while ESPN/ABC will get a conference finals every year in its new deal with the NBA.

Ourand’s report also stated that a decision hasn’t been made yet about whether NBC or WBD will get the NBA’s “B” package.

One thing that seems to be very odd, though, is, according to Ourand, Amazon is expected to pay  $1.8 billion per year for the next 11 years ($19.8 billion total).

Meanwhile, NBC has reportedly offered the NBA $2.5 billion per year for the package that doesn’t include an NBA Finals and only has a conference finals every other year. That’s how much NBC wants to stick games on Peacock.

So just to sum up: If NBC got the “B” package and you’re a big-time NBA fan, you will need to pay for some sort of cable package so you get ESPN, you’ll have to pay for Peacock, you’ll have to pay for Amazon Prime and you’ll have to pay for your local games on whatever RSN they will air on.

With all sports splitting their rights deals into multiple parts, that means two things: The leagues make more money and the fans have to spend more money to watch games.

And it’s only going to get worse.

2. This was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in the NBA.

To make that call in that spot is mind-boggling. Part of being a sports fan is that you complain about the refs. It’s basically a requirement.

But when NBA players and fans are constantly referencing the total joke that is the NBA’s “Last 2-Minute Report,” you have a problem on your hands.

3. In yesterday’s Traina Thoughts, I ranked Nikki Glaser as the No. 1 roaster at the The Roast of Tom Brady. Glaser appeared on The Howard Stern Show Monday and revealed some of the NSFW jokes that she had, but didn’t use on the Netflix special.

4. What a performance from Green Light’s Chris Long. With rap battles being all the rage these days, Long wanted to go in the opposite direction, and instead put together a tune for his good friend, The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo. Even though Long wanted to do “positive rhymes,” he threw in a verse about Russillo’s 2017 arrest for trespassing.

Timeline hit like Kermit Washington
He’s rude
He passed out, sloppy drunk
There was no forced entry
Cops were stunned
Game plan Tony Bennett
Not to run
Feet set, he took the charge
It was no fun

5. Keith Hernandez played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1974 to part of the 1983 season. He’s in the Cardinals Hall of Fame. And he guest starred on the greatest sitcom of all time.

Yet, on Monday, he couldn’t get into St. Louis’s Busch Stadium.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Puck senior correspondent John Ourand about all the latest sports media news. Ourand breaks down the latest reports regarding the NBA’s upcoming television deals and where things stand between the league and ESPN, TNT, NBC and Amazon. Ourand also shares thoughts on how the new TV deals would impact the future of the Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

Ourand discusses the changes at CBS’s NFL Today with Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms out and Matt Ryan in, whether the NFL draft would ever move to a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday schedule instead of Thursday-Friday-Saturday, the status of the Marchand & Ourand Podcast and more.

Following Ourand, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include an NFL draft shocker, a blow to an MLB superstar, Dave & Buster's allowing gambling, Jerry Seinfeld turning 70 and much more.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Absolutely disgraceful job by me not acknowledging the anniversary of the "Pine Barrens" episode in yesterday’s Traina Thoughts. Every single year, on May 6, that episode of The Sopranos needs to be celebrated. So we’re doing it today because better late than never.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter,Instagram and TikTok. 

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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