YouTube’s sports rights efforts have likely reached their apex already, said Jon Cruz, YouTube head of global sports partnerships, at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit in New York. 

While most media companies are constantly chasing the next big thing, and YouTube itself continues to be open to new sports opportunities, the 2022 acquisition of NFL Sunday Ticket in a seven-year, $14 billion deal marks an important culmination of where the Google-owned outlet has been—instead of just an early signpost of where it’s going.

“What gave us the confidence to go out and get Sunday Ticket was the fact that we had been working on highlights [with the NFL on YouTube] for [nearly] a decade at that point, the fact we had built up a lot of reps with a pay-TV subscriber base via YouTube TV, and we had engaged advertisers across both of those services,” Cruz said. “All that pre-work that we did laid the foundation on which Sunday Ticket sits, as opposed to the opposite.”

That said, gaining the NFL’s residential out-of-market rights has been a significant driver to the overall YouTube business. YouTube TV is now the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV service, with more than eight million subscribers. By 2026, YouTube TV is projected to rise to No. 1 status, according to prominent research firm MoffettNathanson, as it continues to grow while the three linear carriers in front of it—Charter, Comcast, and DirecTV—are all in a state of decline. 

“It’s been a really important pillar for our overall business,” Cruz said. “By bringing in Sunday Ticket to our platform, that’s enabled us to have the most comprehensive NFL offering of any distributor.”

On the Sidelines

YouTube, meanwhile, is choosing to remain out of the ongoing legal dispute surrounding NFL Sunday Ticket. The $4.7 billion NFL Sunday Ticket antitrust verdict has been set aside and is now headed toward appeal. The case is now headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. But neither Google nor YouTube is a direct party to the case. 

“There’s a process there that we’re going to be respectful of,” Cruz said. “We have our hands full with all of the work of making sure we’re bringing new subscribers on and taking care of the subscribers we already have. That will be our continued focus as this process runs its course.”

NBC is set to take over the NBA’s new “B” package of media rights next year for $2.5 billion annually, but it will be paying nearly the same price as incumbent “A” package rights holder ESPN, which will shell out $2.6 billion per season over the 11-year contract.

“We have a plan. We know exactly what we paid … and we have a rationale for why that makes sense,” NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus said at the Front Office Sports Tuned In summit Tuesday.

Key for NBC, according to Lazarus, will be boosting the over-the-air network’s prime-time inventory, and helping build a consistent subscriber base for Peacock. The paid streaming service will carry an exclusive doubleheader each Monday night of the season, and on Tuesdays, NBC will telecast two games across certain affiliate broadcast stations in different regions of the country.

“We are very confident that we made a good choice for our networks, for our businesses, and for our shareholders,” Lazarus said. The executive didn’t want to get into TNT Sports losing NBA rights but did heavily criticize Venu Sports—the stalled joint streaming venture from TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and ESPN.

All the Way Up

Despite the enormous costs of acquiring live sports rights, Lazarus doesn’t see the trend dying down anytime soon.

“We’ve been saying for 25 years or 30 years—as long as I’ve been kind of doing these kinds of roles—that the market’s about to burst, but it still hasn’t burst,” he said. “I wish it would, but it hasn’t.”

For now, though, NBC can sit back and relax before its 11-year, $27.5 billion NBA contract begins. “The nice thing about that is, until it starts, it’s the best deal we’ve ever done,” Lazarus said.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver conducted a press conference in New York after a meeting with the league’s board of governors. Some of the important topics Silver addressed:

RSN Woes

Ahead of the board meeting, Knicks owner James Dolan delivered his second letter in the last two months to the NBA expressing several concerns about the league’s business decisions, including how the $77 billion media-rights deal it signed in July would lead to the downfall of regional sports networks.

Silver said that the national media deal, because of its scale and the addition of a third partner, will cannibalize inventory from the RSNs, but he said the old model wasn’t working, either, pointing out how 18 of the league’s regional partners were either defunct or in bankruptcy. For this season, Silver revealed the league’s struggling regional partners are receiving “significantly lower fees.”

He acknowledged that the RSN model is “broken” and that the league will spend the next six months “extensively studying” the issue. He also predicted that streaming services will play a bigger role in the future of local viewership.

“I think coming out of it, what you’ll see is that just in the same way these new media deals we entered into demonstrated the enormous interest in the NBA and WNBA on a national and global basis, there’s no reason that shouldn’t translate on a local basis,” Silver said.

Pumping the Brakes on Expansion

There was deliberately little talk about league expansion in this meeting, as Silver said the league is “not quite ready” to have the conversation. He said there is interest in expansion, and the league plans to discuss it with the board this season.

“Over time, organizations should grow, but it gets a little complicated in terms of selling equity in the league and what that means for the existing television relationships,” Silver said. “What we’ve told interested parties is, ‘Thank you for your interest. We’ll get back to you.’”

Silver stressed that the league has yet to make a decision on the markets, or even whether to expand at all. There have been numerous reports that the league is looking to add two expansion teams, most likely in Las Vegas and Seattle.

Growing Across the Pond

Last month, the Associated Press reported the NBA was looking at increasing its footprint in Europe. The NBA has already established leagues in Africa and Asia, but Silver believes Europe is an untapped market.

“There’s agreement that where we are in terms of the level of interest in basketball is not commensurate with commercial activities,” Silver said. 

He confirmed they are considering options like a tournament or league in Europe, but there are no specifics as of now.

Hands Off on Timberwolves Dispute

There is an arbitration hearing in November between Timberwolves principal owner Glen Taylor and minority owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore—but Silver said the league will have no say in the matter.

“Depending on the outcome, only then would the league continue a vetting process for ownership,” Silver said.