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Big changes are coming to NBA League Pass beginning in the 2025-26 season.
As most NBA fans know, the league is set to cut ties with longtime broadcast partner TNT following the upcoming season.
What most fans do not know is that TNT currently handles the operation of League Pass, the subscription service that allows fans to watch to every out-of-market game.
(Turner Sports also ran NBA TV and NBA.com)
Now that responsibility heads over to Amazon, who will start broadcasting NBA games in 2025-26 in a controversial move that TNT was not allowed to match.
“The digital opportunities with Amazon align perfectly with the global interest in the NBA,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a release. “And Prime Video’s massive subscriber base will dramatically expand our ability to reach our fans in new and innovative ways.”
So, how will that change things?
Amazon To Bring ‘Technology Infrastructure’ To Struggling NBA League Pass App
Well, for one, the NBA expects a better viewer experience. While fans loved League Pass for the access that it gave them, the app itself was prone to glitches and crashes.
The NBA previously offered several tiers of League Pass. Viewers could pay $14.99 per month, $22.99 per month for its premium, ad-free offering or $99.99 per season.
Former Fox Sports exec Patrick Crakes told Front Office Sports that could well continue. But whether Amazon makes a drastic change to the product remains to be seen.
“I think Amazon will be helpful to this but in general I don’t see a lot changing because in the short run, five years, things are going to stay the way they are,” Crakes said “The sub numbers are fuzzy for a reason and that’s because there’s a bunch of people in there and it’s an important product, but it’s not a mainstream general market product.
“Adding Amazon to the mix probably will help with that evolution because they’ll bring some technology infrastructure and that will be a good thing.”
That’s big news for subscribers, and may well soften the blow of losing TNT (and more specifically Inside the NBA). Now we have to wait and see if Amazon can deliver.
