• Loading stock data...
Sunday, June 22, 2025

WNBA Signs $2.2 Billion Rights Deal With Disney, NBC, Amazon

  • ESPN, NBC, and Amazon will split airing the WNBA Finals over 11 years.
  • Amazon is the first streamer to secure the rights to a major U.S. sports league finals.
Kirby Lee/USA Today

After months of speculation, the NBA on Wednesday finally officially announced its partners for its new media-rights package: ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon. The NBA rejected a competing bid for Amazon’s “C” package from Warner Bros. Discovery, which looks poised to take legal action in response, but for now, WBD will be on the sidelines come 2025.

As part of the NBA rights announcement, the WNBA rights are also now official. As had been reported last week, the new WNBA deal is worth $2.2 billion over the same period with the same three partners: ESPN parent company Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon. 

However, unlike with the NBA deal, ESPN will not have exclusive rights to the WNBA Finals.

ESPN has aired the WNBA Finals exclusively on its networks since 2003, and it has aired at least one WNBA Finals game each season dating back to 1998, the league’s second season. In this new rights package, ESPN will broadcast just five WNBA Finals over 11 years, while NBC and Amazon each take three years apiece. (The new deal brings WNBA games back to NBC for the first time since 2002.)

ESPN has lately appeared more open to sharing broadcasting rights it once had exclusivity over. In May, the network announced it will sublicense a portion of the expanded College Football Playoff to TNT, a first in the CFP era. TNT is reportedly paying ESPN somewhere in the nine-figure range for the CFP games.

Last month, ESPN content president Burke Magnus alluded to the idea that his network was open to sharing the WNBA Finals with other partners.

“Of course we want the WNBA Finals,” Magnus told Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. “I’m sure that, at some level, that’s going to be a component of the deal. But if we don’t have it every single year, because it means it’s on other networks, I think that’s actually a good thing I’m imagining for the ultimate development and continued growth of the league.”

The First Exclusively Streamed Finals

While it’s not yet clear exactly how the WNBA’s broadcast partners will divide the Finals, Amazon receiving three years of rights means there will be a WNBA Finals series aired exclusively via streaming. This marks the first time that a streaming giant has secured the exclusive rights to a Finals series of any major U.S. professional sports league.

Streaming-only live games have been picking up steam over the past few years—particularly after Amazon began streaming Thursday Night Football on Prime Video in 2022. In January, Peacock streamed the first exclusively streamed NFL playoff game, while Netflix is set to stream the NFL’s two-game Christmas slate this year.

But Amazon isn’t new to showcasing high-level WNBA games. The final round of the Commissioner’s Cup, the WNBA’s regular-season tournament, has aired on Prime Video since the tournament’s inception in 2021.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

exclusive

LeBron James’s Growing Amazon Ties Could Lead to Prime Role

James has praised Prime’s NBA talent hires for the 2025–26 season.

Fire Rekindled? WNBA’s Portland Expansion Team Eyes Original Name

WNBA trademarks hint at Portland Fire revival as league expands and honors history.
Jun 13, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) drives to the hoop past Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8), guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) and forward Chet Holmgren (7) during the third quarter of game four of the 2025 NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Pacers, Fever Overwhelmed by Demand for Merch

“We have people waiting to get in the store at 10 in the morning.”

Featured Today

Mar 15, 2025; Fort Worth, TX, USA; UAB Blazers forward Yaxel Lendeborg (3) dribbles the ball upcourt against the North Texas Mean Green during the first half at Dickies Arena

NIL Is Shrinking the Pool of NBA Draft Entrants

Agents are now advising many players to stay in school.
Apr 24, 2025; Green Bay, WI, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions defensive end Abdul Carter on the red carpet before the 2025 NFL Draft at Lambeau Field
June 21, 2025

‘More Is More’: The Elite Luxury Jewelers Decking Out Athletes

Meet the elite group of luxury designers crafting the biggest statement pieces.
Dec 5, 2024; Miami, FL, USA; FIFA president Gianni Infantino presents the FIFA Club World Cup trophy during the Club Word Cup draw at Telemundo Studios.
June 15, 2025

Revamped Club World Cup Is FIFA’s Billion-Dollar Gamble

The revamped soccer event debuts amid controversy.
Jun 10, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino stands during the anthem against the Switzerland during the first at Geodis Park
June 14, 2025

Gold Cup Is Complicated for USMNT—but U.S. Soccer Has Its Eyes on..

Uncertain tournament success isn’t fazing forward-looking U.S. soccer.

Pac-12 Still Playing Conference Tetris As Realignment Heats Up

Sacramento State is leaving the Big Sky for the Big West.
June 18, 2025

Dana White’s Next Frontier: Making Jiu-Jitsu Mainstream

The TKO Group Holdings–owned competition expands once again.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) celebrates after scoring a 3-pointer Tuesday, June 17, 2025, during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Connecticut Sun, 88-71.
June 18, 2025

Caitlin Clark ‘Celebrates’ Chance at $500K Commissioner’s Cup Prize

The winning team shares a $500,000 prize pool.
Sponsored

Game On: Portfolio Players Stories, Brought to You by E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

Ted Leonsis unpacks basketball’s global rise, media rights, and portfolio ownership.
Club World Cup
June 18, 2025

Club World Cup Attendance Plummets for Weekday Games: 3,700 in Orlando, ‘Almost..

Chelsea’s manager bemoaned an “almost empty” stadium in Atlanta.
June 18, 2025

Premier League Embraces NFL-Style Flex Scheduling for 2025–26

The league warns of additional games “moving at relatively short notice.”
Sophie Cunningham
June 18, 2025

Fever and Sun Hit With Tiny Fines After Wild Melee

WNBA coaches have long complained about a lack of transparency in fines.
Lydia Ko
June 17, 2025

PGA Championship Ties U.S. Open for Richest Purse in Women’s Golf

This week’s tournament will offer $12 million in prize money.