The NBA’s Bold New Reality: Chasing Hoops Across the Web

By: Caleb Boyd

September 23, 2025

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Imagine a world where everyday streaming services are being promoted as major ways for NBA fans to be able to watch their favorite teams live. This is the new reality we are facing today, and it’s just getting started.

For the vast majority of the 2000s, the NBA’s media outreach was rather predictable in nature. Nationally-televised games were broadcast on one of three networks: ESPN, TNT, or ABC. That was the model of old, but it is being rewritten in real time. Starting this season, NBA media will be defined by streaming platforms. Between Amazon Prime, Peacock, and ESPN Unlimited, ESPN’s new exclusive streaming service, a combined $77 billion media rights deal has overhauled the world of sports media as we know it.

Why would the NBA make this type of move so suddenly? There are a multitude of reasons, but more than anything else, this represents an extremely calculated business decision that showcases sports alongside other aspects of entertainment. Amazon Prime, Peacock, and ESPN are successful companies in their own right, but the NBA’s deliberate partnerships represent a diverse community that will run the media world for years to come. It pairs the global recognition of Amazon and its emerging streaming options with NBC’s national reach and ESPN’s stranglehold on the sports industry.

An additional aspect of this is the revenue that can be generated from advertisements and sponsorships. Amazon can leverage its shopping platform to promote products during games, creating effortless consumer opportunities. As a national leader in news, NBC could potentially bundle NBA content along with its NFL and Olympic coverage, offering advertisers the opportunity to appeal to fans of multiple sports demographics. ESPN, with its ties to sports betting, has another avenue to maximize both engagement and advertisement sales.

Together, these opportunities go to show how the NBA is providing these partners with almost exclusive advantages that strengthen its business model as a whole. By creating these types of opportunities, the NBA has positioned itself to become a much more valuable partner in both the short and long term, ensuring that its media rights hold their appeal for years to come.

Unfortunately, the side of business that the NBA loves comes at a steep cost for fans. They must now juggle multiple subscriptions just to keep up with the season, which introduces a barrier to entry that will inevitably push some fans out. Between Amazon Prime, ESPN Unlimited, NBA League Pass, NBA TV, Peacock, and a regional network for local broadcasts, these services all have to be brought separately.

Charles Barkley has been vocal about this problem, criticizing the league and its partners for prioritizing profits over accessibility. “We should never put money above the regular fan. Everybody can’t afford streaming,” accusing the NBA and its business model of focusing on deals rather than fan experience (HoopsHype, 2024). He argues that the trend of awarding games simply to the highest bidder and introducing a paywall disservices fans more than anyone else.

In a new world of streaming, the NBA has never been closer to maximizing its global reach. The business side is booming, but it is also redefining the fan experience and what it means to be an NBA fan. Does it come at a cost? Yes, but clearly, that is a trade-off that the NBA is willing to make. Promoting its product as more than sport is the obvious goal, and with the intersection of entertainment, this is an entirely new and potentially groundbreaking ecosystem that is just in its infancy stages.