CNBC analyst makes major prediction

The ongoing saga regarding the NBA’s next media rights deal has put sports’ relationship with streaming in the spotlight.

But while it appears to be a matter of not “if” but “when” the league will finalize its agreement with Amazon, one financial expert is wondering whether this is just the tip of the iceberg.

On Tuesday’s episode of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street , co-host David Faber discussed the latest news regarding Warner Bros. Discovery’s efforts to match the NBA’s media rights package with Amazon . And in noting the NBA’s apparent preference to sign with Amazon over WBD, the CNBC host and analyst questioned whether all sports media rights deals will ultimately have a similar destination.

“There may be a larger argument here that is made as well perhaps by Warner Bros Discovery in terms of not just the power of these platforms to control and buy these sports rights, but people who want to watch NBA games now are going to have to pay another 10 bucks a month and they’re going to get sneaker ads in their feed constantly,” Faber said “And is that what you really want? Particularly for people who are not necessarily in the best of health economically, for example, but want to watch NBA games because you got to pay another 10 bucks for your Prime service and things of that nature.

“We’ll see where this ends up, but it could include not just litigation but sort of a larger discussion about is every sports, rights deal going to ultimately end up with Amazon, Apple, Alphabet or even Netflix at some point.”

Ultimately, the idea of streaming increasing its footprint with sports media rights is nothing new, as both the NFL and MLB already have streaming-only portions of their respective media rights packages. In that regard, the NBA is actually playing catch up, which is likely one of the biggest reasons why the league is eager to get its product on Amazon’s Prime Video.

While it may not be what’s best for consumers, it’s understandable why leagues would want to diversify their portfolios of media rights partners. And at this point, it would be surprising if any deals moving forward didn’t include a streaming component.

As for the idea of leagues going streaming-only, we aren’t there yet (unless you’re MLS), as the NFL, MLB and NBA have all maintained larger presences on network and cable television. When/if sports go streaming-only, it will have more to do with the landscape of the television and cable industries than anything else.

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