The NBA continues to grow commercially on the back of lucrative national media deals and rising franchise valuations, but a crisis in local broadcasting has cost the league’s 30 teams more than $450 million in combined revenue.
According to Forbes estimates, the average NBA franchise is now worth more than $6 billion. The league also opened the season with a record audience for a prime-time opening-night game, as the New York Knicks’ matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers averaged 7.71 million viewers.
The figures reflect the commercial momentum generated by the NBA’s new 11-year, $76 billion national media rights agreements, which took effect last season. Under deals with ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video, teams generated an average of approximately $150 million each in national media revenue last season, a 40% increase on the final year of the previous agreement.
However, that growth has not been enough to offset the downturn in the local television market.
Local media revenue falls 32% in two seasons
Forbes estimates that NBA teams earned an average of $33 million each from local television rights last season, down 25% from $44 million in the 2024-25 season.
Compared with the approximately $48 million per team generated in 2023-24, local media revenue has fallen by 32%. Across all 30 franchises, the decline represents an estimated $453 million in lost revenue.
The impact has not been evenly distributed. Sixteen teams with previous agreements involving regional sports networks (RSNs) under the FanDuel Sports Network umbrella were directly affected by the broadcaster’s financial difficulties.
The parent company of the networks, previously known as Bally Sports, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 as Diamond Sports Group. It later rebranded as Main Street Sports Group but entered a winding-down process in 2026. After scaling back operations in April, the company shut down its broadcasting operations in September.
As a result, 16 NBA teams had to find new local broadcast partners for games not covered by the league’s national media agreements.
The substantial increase in national media revenue has helped cushion the impact of the local downturn, but the disruption has created fresh uncertainty for franchise finances. As traditional regional sports networks weaken, teams are being pushed to explore alternatives, including direct-to-consumer streaming platforms, free-to-air broadcasts and new local media partnerships.
The NBA’s media business is therefore moving in two directions at once. National rights are creating unprecedented revenue opportunities for the league, while local broadcasting has become a key commercial area that teams must rethink and rebuild.