NBCUniversal Boss on $27 Billion NBA Deal: ‘We Have a Plan’

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.