Amazon Prime spent a billion dollars to bring Thursday Night Football to their platform until 2033. It’s been a success. During a recent industry conference, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver openly expressed his fascination with Amazon Prime’s presentation.
Thursday Night Football is averaging 13.6 million viewers per week, an appealing number that the NBA cannot ignore. As the year 2025 approaches and the NBA prepares to renegotiate its media rights contracts, many anticipate that the NBA will follow the NFL’s lead and embrace weekly streaming options.
Reports suggest that the NBA is intrigued by Amazon’s reach to attract a demographic that’s about seven years younger than the NFL Legacy’s partner. They’re looking for $50-$75 billion in their next cycle of long-term media rights starting in the 2025-2026 year. A deal that stretches into the late 2030s.
Amazon’s Sports Chief said the company would strategically find rational ways for them to continue to pursue streaming within the professional sports place. Notably, Amazon and the NBA have already established a partnership in South America, where they announced plans to stream NBA games in Brazil last year.
The league is currently still negotiating with requisite media partners Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bro’s and Discovery Sports TNT. It’ll be interesting to see where the bidding war ends over the next year and a half with the NBA season on the horizon.
