The chances of ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports holding on to meaningful portions of the NBA’s national media rights are going up, in part due to a little-known component of their current contracts. 

As the league has allowed exclusivity periods with ESPN and WBD to lapse to allow for more suitors, industry sources tell Front Office Sports that both networks have matching provisions that still allow each an opportunity to respond to outside bids before contracts are finalized. Those terms, initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, are said to apply to both streaming and linear rights packages the NBA could offer, the sources said. 

Those provisions are in place as both networks are making progress on possible renewals with the league, according to industry sources, though the final outcome remains uncertain. After an NBA Board of Governors meeting earlier this month, commissioner Adam Silver pointed to potentially fruitful discussions with the two incumbents.

“The conversations are ongoing and have been very positive,” Silver said. 

The NBA currently gets nearly $2.7 billion annually from its nine-year $24 billion deals with ESPN and TNT expiring at the end of next season, and a doubling of that outlay in the next term is certainly possible. 

Relationships Matter

Silver earlier this month also pointed to the emergence of streaming and ongoing media disruption, saying that those developments “open up all kinds of possibilities,” a comment that lends further credence to the notion of an entity such as Amazon also getting a piece of the league’s rights, and adding to a fast-growing sports portfolio that also includes the NFL, NWSL, and WNBA. 

But for the NBA, its current rights-holder relationships are also far more than mere contractual ties. The league has been tied to WBD and its prior incarnations in various ways since 1984, when cable TV was still in its relative infancy, and it also has been a partner with the company on key league assets such as NBA.com and NBA TV. Because of that, TNT Sports has been referred to by both Silver and his predecessor, the late David Stern, as one of the league’s most deeply trusted partners. 

ESPN, meanwhile, has been an NBA partner for more than 20 years, and beyond the live games themselves, the network has few, if any, true rivals in the amount of weekday programming muscle it devotes to the league among its numerous talk, highlights, and analysis shows. The network also has the unrivaled status of holding national rights to each of the four main U.S. sports leagues, something it is likely reluctant to give up. 

The Local Question

Another key element coloring the ongoing NBA rights discussion is the still-unsettled status of Diamond Sports Group’s bankruptcy. The company is attempting to reorganize, with a hearing scheduled for June 18 for ratification of its plan. 

If the league succeeds, and quickly, in recouping some or all of the local media rights held by DSG, that would represent another significant piece of inventory that could potentially become part of these broader rights negotiations. DSG, however, has also presented the NBA a proposal for a longer-term agreement that includes “rights fee modifications” and contemplates digital rights as well.

You may have seen the reports this week that Rory McIlroy is set to return to the PGA Tour policy board after a five-month absence. That move, which could be ratified Wednesday, would see McIlroy replace Webb Simpson and simultaneously gain a spot on the board of PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity established after Strategic Sports Group’s initial $1.5 billion investment in the Tour.

It’s been a wild ride for McIlroy since the emergence of LIV Golf, as the golfer currently ranked No. 2 in the world has gone back and forth on what he thinks is best for the game. Here’s a brief snapshot of some notable happenings:

• Jan. 1, 2022: McIlroy becomes the first international player to serve on the PGA Tour policy board, just months before LIV Golf would launch and disrupt the sport.
• June 7, 2023: One day after the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour was seeking to partner with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, McIlroy says he still hates LIV, hopes it “goes away,” and “would rather retire” than play on the controversial circuit.
• July 11, 2023: A U.S. Senate hearing dissecting the PGA Tour–PIF deal reveals that McIlroy met with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in late 2022 to talk about the state of pro golf.
• Nov. 14, 2023: The PGA Tour announces that McIlroy has resigned from the policy board, with more than a year left on his term, citing personal and professional commitments.
• Dec. 8, 2023: In the aftermath of Jon Rahm’s defecting to LIV Golf, McIlroy swiftly says the European Tour will have to change its rules ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup so that the Spaniard can participate. No LIV Golf members were allowed to be a part of Europe’s winning team in the fall.
• April 2, 2024: Ahead of the Masters, McIlroy says the current state of professional golf is “not sustainable,” and there needs to be a correction to bring all the best players back together.
• April 16: McIlroy shoots down a rumor that he was close to signing with LIV Golf for $850 million, saying, “I honestly don’t know how these things get started.”
• April 22: McIlroy’s return to the PGA Tour policy board is first reported by The Guardian.

Why His Return Matters

As McIlroy returns to his PGA Tour leadership role, he’ll join the likes of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, and Patrick Cantlay in forging the best path ahead, weighing potential investment from the PIF. When he resigned in November, it was clear that McIlroy was fed up with the lack of progress made in unifying the pro game. 

The move didn’t do much to help McIlroy on the course, though—he won on the DP World Tour in January but has just one top-five finish on the PGA Tour and finished tied for 22nd at the Masters. At next month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, he’ll return to the course where he won his last major championship in August 2014.