The NBA is heading into Memorial Day weekend without having publicly announced a new set of media-rights deals. However, the league appears to be getting close to completing several pacts that will likely bring in at least double the $2.7 billion in annual fees the NBA currently gets from ESPN and TNT.

It has been widely reported that Disney’s ESPN is set to renew its deal with the NBA, while new broadcast partners NBC and Amazon are on tap to join the fray, leaving incumbent TNT out in the cold. Here’s what we know:

ESPN: Disney, which owns the sports network, is believed to be on track to keep its “A” package of NBA rights, which include being the exclusive home of the NBA Finals. ESPN’s rights fee is reportedly doubling from $1.4 billion per year to $2.8 billion annually over the 10-year deal. NBA games should continue to be a regular fixture on ESPN and ABC throughout the season and playoffs.

NBC: The network that had NBA rights during the peak of the Michael Jordan Bulls era appears to be hitting the court once again. With a bid said to be valued at $2.5 billion annually, the Comcast-owned network would take over the NBA’s “B” package that TNT has in the current deal, which expires after the 2024–25 season. NBC can offer free, over-the-air broadcast network exposure that TNT, a cable channel, cannot.

Amazon: The streamer is reportedly offering $1.8 billion per season to put some NBA regular-season and playoff games on Prime Video. Amazon could end up with key assets like the newly rebranded Emirates NBA Cup in-season tournament and international broadcast rights.

TNT: The home of Inside the NBA may no longer have a league media package, unless something drastic changes in the coming days. TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has a matching clause in some form in its NBA deal, but the exact terms of that clause are unclear. Right now, it looks like WBD has gotten outbid and the NBA is ready to move on.

Insider Perspective

To get a pulse on what to expect next, we checked in with Front Office Sports media reporter Michael McCarthy. “The negotiations are in the fourth quarter,” our colleague says. “Warner Bros. Discovery has matching rights to offers from third-party bidders. But at press time, there were still no official offers to match. When they come in from NBC and Amazon, WBD CEO David Zaslav will have a big decision to make. Will he effectively pay more for a lesser NBA package? Or does he decline to match higher bids as NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol did in 2002? Does Zaslav want to go down as the WBD CEO who lost the NBA and Charles Barkley’s Inside the NBA?”

Lionel Messi has propelled Major League Soccer to unprecedented heights since joining Inter Miami last summer. But while he may be seen as a superhero to many—and the biggest box-office hit the league has ever known—the reality is that he’s still human.

Soccer fans in Vancouver were set to get their first look at Messi in an Inter Miami uniform this weekend, until the Whitecaps announced late Thursday that the superstar would not be traveling with his club for Saturday’s match nearly 3,000 miles away. And neither would fellow former FC Barcelona standouts Luis Suárez and Sergio Busquets. That’s putting the Canadian MLS side in a tricky position.

With Messi—the eight-time Ballon d’Or award winner—coming to town, a club-record MLS-era crowd had been expected to fill up BC Place. The stadium can hold up to 54,500 fans for soccer games if the upper deck is open, but last year averaged 16,745 for Whitecaps home games. Earlier this season, Vancouver broke its franchise attendance record as 32,465 fans showed up to celebrate the team’s 50th anniversary.

After it became apparent Messi and the other Miami stars wouldn’t be playing Saturday, the Whitecaps told fans they would be providing a 50% discount on all in-stadium food and beverage, with youth 18 and under getting one free kid’s meal combo. A small concession for the disappointed fan base. “Unfortunately, we have no control over who plays for our opponent,” a club statement read.

Keeping Pace

Saturday’s match will be Inter Miami’s 16th of the MLS season, and seventh that Messi has missed. He dealt with a leg injury earlier this year, but his absence this weekend is apparently just a team decision to rest the star ahead of a busy summer schedule for Messi and other international players. 

It should also be noted that Vancouver plays on an artificial turf field—a stark difference from the grass surfaces Messi has spent nearly his entire professional career playing on. Messi has said artificial surfaces wouldn’t prevent him from playing any road matches, and he has played on multiple turf fields in MLS so far.

Inter Miami, which has the best record in MLS with 31 points in its first 15 games, has a home match against Atlanta United on Wednesday. The Copa America, in which Messi will play for Argentina, begins June 20. MLS does not take an international break like other leagues, so clubs carry on without some top players. In July and August, Miami will have the Leagues Cup on top of its MLS schedule.