The NBA’s regular season viewership has been declining, so the league is taking a page from European soccer leagues to try to spice it up.
The NBA announced on Saturday, July 8, that it will have an In-Season Tournament starting the 2023-24 season. All 30 teams will be part of the tournament that will go from November 3 to December 9.
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The NBA averaged 1.59 million viewers for its games last season across ESPN, ABC, and TNT. The last four years -- including two pandemic-altered seasons -- are some of the lowest over the last three decades despite playoff viewership slowly turning around and record attendance in arenas.
Several factors have played into the regular season viewership lull, including the shift from cable to streaming has played a massive factor in the viewership decline. Another is “load management” wherein star players rest several games during the season in order to keep their bodies healthy for the playoffs, and sometimes these games fall during primetime telecasts.
The In-Season Tournament incentivizes players to play games during the early stages of the regular season. The month-long tournament will highlight Tuesday and Friday -- primetime broadcast dates for TNT and ESPN, respectively -- as Tournament Nights. These games will determine the 8 teams to advance to the Knockout Rounds.
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The top eight teams all receive prize money. Players on the title winning team each receive $500,000, while the second place team’s players receive $200,000 each. Semifinalists receive $100,000 each and quarter finalists win $50,000.
The tournament comes at an opportune time for the league as its media rights deal with Disney - (DIS) -) and Warner Bros - (WBD) -) expires at the end of next season. The current media rights deal pays the NBA about $2.7 billion per year, and it’s looking in the ballpark of around $8 billion per year for its next deal.
Disney and Warner Bros. remain likely suitors, but they’re expected to face competition from streaming services like Amazon and Apple.
