SI

Adam Silver Provides Strange Response to Rising Cost of Watching NBA Games

Silver referred to the league as 'very much a highlights-based sport' in response to concerns surrounding the NBA's new national broadcast schedule.

Blake Silverman

Adam Silver spoke to reporters about the league's new national broadcast schedule Wednesday.
Adam Silver spoke to reporters about the league's new national broadcast schedule Wednesday. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed reporters Wednesday in a press conference surrounding the league's preseason board of governor's meeting.

He touched on a number of topics impacting the league at large, including the recent controversy surrounding Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers. Another hot topic which Silver spoke to is the league's new broadcast schedule, which will see games featured on Disney properties like ESPN as well as NBC's Peacock and Amazon's Prime Video.

It's a streaming world, but the need for fans to maintain subscriptions for various streaming platforms simply to watch every NBA game might be a lot to ask for. Per Fox Sports' Rachel Nichols, the commissioner was asked about the rising cost to watch NBA games for fans. He had an interesting response to say the least.

"There's a huge amount of our content that people can essentially consume for free," he said. "I mean this is very much a highlights-based sport. So Instagram, TikTok, Twitter you name it. Any service, the New York Times for that matter to the extent that your content is not behind a paid firewall. There's an enormous amount of content out there. YouTube, another example that is advertising based that consumers can consume."

It's safe to say that fans weren't exactly thrilled his response to the question was to consume highlights for free.

Silver did note that with the league's new media deal, the league is going from 15 games on broadcast television to 75, allowing fans to watch more marquee games with only a TV antenna. Here's his full response to the question per Nate Jones:

ESPN's Tim Bontemps also reported that Silver said that the NBA's three national TV partners (ESPN, Amazon and NBC) met this week to discuss different avenues the sides can work together on moving forward.

What Platforms Will Stream NBA Games This Season?

NBA coverage will look different in the upcoming season as the league's new media rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon is slated to begin. That means NBA games will no longer be broadcast on TNT.

The league announced its upcoming schedule last month along with the national broadcast schedule. Monday games will be streamed on Peacock, NBC's streaming service, with Tuesday games on NBC and Peacock. ESPN will broadcast Wednesday matchups. Amazon Prime has Thursdays, with Prime and ESPN games to follow on Fridays. Saturday games will be shown on Prime and ABC, with Sundays on ABC, NBC and Peacock.

According to the league, Thursday games on Prime, Friday games on ABC, ESPN and Prime, plus Sunday matchups on ABC, ESPN and NBC/Peacock will start midseason.

Below outlines the full national broadcast schedule:

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed

Published
Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.

Home/NBA