The NBA appears ready to move on from TNT for a reunion with NBC.
The league is formalizing contracts this week with Disney (which owns ESPN), NBC and Amazon for new rights deals that would begin with the 2025-26 season, Sports Business Journal reported Wednesday.
NBC is closing in on taking over TNT’s “B” package for $2.6 billion a year, according to the report, and if that happens, next season would be the last for TNT’s beloved “Inside the NBA” show featuring Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.
TNT owner Warner Bros. Discovery has matching rights, so the NBA will see if they will match the “total value” of NBC’s deal once it is complete, the report said.
How the parties define “total value” could lead to a legal battle between the league and WBD, according to SBJ, with the NBA set to argue “a match is not dollar-for-dollar” due to ad revenue and broadcast windows.
NBC’s over-the-air network is likely to include a weekly Sunday night “Basketball Night in America” game once the NFL season ends, SBJ reports; NBC is the home of “Sunday Night Football.”
NBC, which last had NBA rights from 1990-2002, would have a second primetime window each week and also get second-round playoff games and a conference final.
TNT, which has aired NBA games since the 1988-89 season, is paying $1.2 billion a year for the current “B” package, and SBJ reports WBD CEO David Zaslav did not want to pay double for the same package during the exclusive negotiating window for current partners that expired April 22, allowing NBC to jump in.
ESPN is set to keep the “A” package which includes the NBA Finals for $2.8 billion a year, while Amazon’s deal will be between $1.8 billion and $2 billion for a package that includes the in-season tournament, which debuted this season, the play-in tournament and first-round playoff games, per SBJ.
NBC had NBA rights during the Michael Jordan years and its broadcasts were known for the signature “Roundball Rock” theme by John Tesh.
Tesh said Tuesday on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” that NBC has already reached out to him about re-licensing the song, and he’s re-recording the song with a full orchestra next month in Nashville.
“It’s nothing firm. But they said, ‘Hey can you stay frosty on this?’ — like a Navy Seals thing — ‘because we’d love to talk to you about it,’” Tesh said. “We’re actually talking right now about licensing it to them for the Olympics in Paris.”