While there is still much drama to sort out when it comes to the NBA media rights and whether or not Warner Bros. Discovery will be able to successfully snatch a package away from Amazon, it would appear that NBC is in the clear in its quest to bring the Association back to the network. And although the deal hasn’t yet officially been announced by the NBA, highlights of their upcoming schedule beginning with the 2025-2026 season were revealed on Tuesday’s Comcast earnings call with an additional surprise.
At the beginning of the call, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh went through the details of the upcoming agreement with the NBA on NBC returning and shared the high points of the new package across linear and streaming.
NBA on NBC and Peacock highlights include:
- 6 Conference Finals over 11 years add first and second round playoff games.
- NBA All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night
- Season-opening doubleheader
- 50 games on Peacock including a Monday night doubleheader and playoff games
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day doubleheader
While WBD is trying to match Amazon for the NBA’s “C” package of games , from this schedule it appears that NBC will have most of the inventory that aired through the NBA on TNT.
In breaking news, it was also revealed on the call that NBC has won WNBA rights as part of that league’s new media deal which comes in conjunction with the NBA. This includes three WNBA Finals series as well as several playoff games.
The WNBA Finals have aired each year on ESPN and ABC since 2002. NBC aired games in each WNBA Finals from the league’s inception in 1997 through 2001 . NBC also gets more USA Basketball games as the Olympic tuneups happening right now are currently airing on Fox Sports.
The new WNBA media contracts have not yet seen a lot of details reported, but it is expected that the W will earn a huge increase in revenue from the same media partners that are signing the NBA deal.
Here’s more from Cavanagh on the transcript of the Comcast earnings call via Seeking Alpha:
Beyond the NBA itself, we’re excited that our package includes WNBA, where starting in the spring of 2026, we’ll have more than 50 WNBA regular season and first round playoff games each season across Peacock, NBC and USA, and we’ll also have games in seven WNBA Conference semifinals and three WNBA Final series; for USA Basketball, we’ll have the rights to USA men’s and women’s games leading up to the Olympics and FIBA World Cup; Sky Sports will air all of NBCUniversal’s NBA and WNBA games in its markets; and finally, Xfinity will be the NBA and WNBA’s marketing partner in the video category.
It’s a great time for NBC to get back in business with the WNBA as the league has experienced soaring growth this year. Ratings have exploded with Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and an iconic rookie class joining the league. Even though there’s some debate on whether or not the WNBA is seeing its rights devalued being joined together with the NBA , the NBC platforms and the number of games being televised and streamed should keep the momentum going.
All totaled, it’s a huge investment for NBC to come back together with the NBA and WNBA after decades being away from the sport. And as Cavanagh explained on the call to shareholders, it completes an impressive year round sports portfolio for the company.
Now, I’d like to take a moment to explain why we’re so excited to partner with the NBA. First, it brings in a broad, diverse and youthful audience that is culturally relevant and further expands NBCUniversal’s tremendous reach across broadcast and streaming. This new fan base will also allow us to create new entertainment content that will work beyond the basketball season with exciting opportunities for companion programming and marketing collaborations that tap into the NBA’s pop culture appeal.
Second, the nine-month basketball season completes our year-round calendar for sports, which already includes the NFL, Olympics, Premier League, NASCAR, PGA Tour, Big Ten and World Cup, and our NBA package will establish much-watched Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night traditions on NBC and Peacock.
Third, we are uniquely able to drive strong value with the NBA in multiple ways: first, by growing ad sales, by selling NBA ad inventory package with the rest of our marquee programming; second, by acquiring and monetizing subscribers both on Linear and Peacock; and third, by optimizing NBCUniversal programming investment across sports, entertainment and news.
The NBA’s decision to partner with us is a testament to our breadth and reach, our operational excellence in sports and innovation, and our decades of experience delivering world-class content to consumers. Much like our long-standing relationships with the NFL and the Olympics, we look forward to putting the weight of our entire company behind our partnership with the NBA for decades to come.
NBC has been as aggressive as any other company when it comes to stockpiling sports rights, especially for Peacock. Now with the NBA and WNBA on board, their live sports offerings can rival anyone on the market. Now all that’s left is to cue up Roundball Rock and wait for the 2025-2026 NBA season to get underway.
The post NBC reveals NBA schedule highlights, new WNBA Finals agreement appeared first on Awful Announcing .
Most Popular
Comments / 0