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The NBA hasn’t officially announced which network won the bidding war to secure the right to broadcast the league’s games, but it sounds like NBC has reigned supreme and Inside the NBA is on the verge of ending based on what Bill Simmons had to say about the matter.
There are plenty of basketball fans who have never lived in a world where TNT didn’t have the rights to broadcast NBA games, as Turner Sports has had a relationship with the league for over 35 years courtesy of the deal that’s remained in place since it started airing contests all the way back in 1988.
That contract went into effect a couple of years before NBC got in on the action to kick off the “Roundball Rock” Era that spanned from 1990 to 2002. The network was eventually boxed out by ABC and ESPN, but the powers that be decided to throw their hat back into the ring in the hopes of reclaiming the NBA when the current broadcast deal expires at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Earlier this month, we learned that NBC was willing to pony up $2.5 billion to secure NBA broadcasting rights, which meant Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT’s parent company) needed to fork over $2.8 billion if it wanted to win the bidding war.
There hasn’t been any official announcement concerning the victor, but during the most recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, the eponymous host asserted NBC came out on top around the 1:44:00 mark, saying:
“One of the funniest things ever is that we’re all pretending the TV deal wasn’t done like a week-and-a-half ago…
I think it’s done. I think Warner already lost it. I don’t know why we’re waiting til after the playoffs. Maybe that’s how they have to do it, but it’s a wrap. NBC’s getting it.”
If TNT did, in fact, lose to NBC, the biggest losers are probably fans of the beloved Inside the NBA, which is poised to cease to exist once the current contract expires.
Charles Barkley has already implied he’ll head to another network thanks to a clause in his contract that gives him permission to do exactly that if TNT loses the NBA, and insiders say Ernie Johnson has no plans to leave Turner regardless of what transpires.
Simmons is obviously an incredibly plugged-in individual in the basketball world, so while I’d say his claim should be taken with a grain of salt, it seems pretty safe to assume he knows what he’s talking about.