NBA Commissioner Responds to Knicks Owner's RSN Concerns

New York Knicks owner James Dolan has voiced concerns over the NBA's increased reliance upon national television and streaming at the cost of regional sports networks.

Jul 20, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver arrives prior to the WNBA All Star Game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

New York Knicks owner James Dolan's duel for the dial has reached NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

Speaking after the NBA Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday, Silver was asked about Dolan's comments against the Association's new media deal, one that the New York chairman believes spells doom for regional sports networks, such as his own MSG Network. While defending the new deal, which will take effect for the 2025-26 season, Silver did admit that it will "undoubtedly have some effect on local deals."

"By adding a third partner, there's a few more nationa; telecasts that will, by definition, no longer be available to the teams," Silver said (h/t New York Basketball on X). "There's some impact on sponsorships and signage for those teams as well."

Under the new deal, NBC and Amazon join the fold alongside the ESPN networks owned by The Walt Disney Company.

But Silver later pointed to the struggles of other regional sports networks as one of the major reasons behind the deal, namely the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports, a Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary that owns the Bally Sports Networks. Fourteen NBA teams currently air their games under Bally branding.

Jul 20, 2024; Phoenix, AZ, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver arrives prior to the WNBA All Star Game at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"Prior to us completing our national deals, I think 18 of our RSNs were either defunct or in bankruptcy,” Silver said. “So if you look back, sort of just graph it over the last few years in terms of both decline in number of homes covered by those RSNs and decline in revenue, that is the reality of what's happening in that aspect of our business, and it’s something we’re paying a lot of attention to.”

Silver said that the "lessons learned" from the negotiations included the "marketplace interest in streaming" and "dramatically increasing the broadcast exposures" on ABC and NBC.

That likely won't be enough to appease Dolan, who has staged several de facto protests against the NBA's revenue sharing model amidst the new media deals. A combination of his television concerns and the Association's handling of the Knicks' ongoing lawsuit against the Toronto Raptors for alleged theft of proprietary information reportedly led Dolan to step down from his posts on NBA BOG committees.

The NBA could eventually wind up with Silver did circle back to Dolan's concerns that more national games will mean lost revenue for showings that would otherwise appear on MSG. To that point, the Knicks, fresh off a 50-win season and a second-place finish of the Eastern Conference, are currently destined for 24 games on ABC, ESPN, or TNT, tied with Golden State for the third-most in the NBA.

The commissioner concluded his comments by admitting that the "greatest value in sports rights is in the market of that team," citing the Knicks' massive popularity in the boroughs.

"You're here in the New York market; the Knicks are clearly a national and global brand in terms of basketball," Silver said. "The most intensive interest in the New York Knicks, not surprisingly, is in the New York market. So it shouldn't be that when we finish this process that rights are worth more per viewer outside of the New York region than in New York."

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