Kantar Media data indicates the NBA playoffs account for $600M in advertising for ABC/ESPN and TurnerNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
The question "coursing through much of sports media" in the wake of the global pandemic is "how big the financial hit will be and how to survive until the games return," according to Ben Strauss of the WASHINGTON POST. In the short term, the networks’ "first area of concern is advertising revenue." According to Kantar Media, the NBA playoffs account for $600M in advertising for ABC/ESPN and Turner, while March Madness brought in $910M in "ad revenue last year" for Turner and CBS. While the NCAA Tournament has been canceled, the French Open (NBC), Kentucky Derby (NBC) and Masters (CBS) "have been moved to the fall, and there is hope that at least some NBA games will be played over the summer." Bruin Sports Capital Founder & CEO George Pyne said, "If this is a three-month break, most folks get through it, but I don’t even want to think about if this goes six months or nine months." If that becomes the case, Pyne added, "You’re looking at insurance implications and the fine print of these contracts.” Sources said that there "isn’t much latitude for a distributor such as Comcast to say to a national network such as ESPN or Turner that it is reducing carriage fees because the NBA playoffs are missed." Fox Sports Regional Networks President Jeff Krolik, who oversees roughly 20 RSNs for Sinclair Broadcast Group, said that there is "optimism for the cable bundle as his networks flood the airwaves with classic games." Pyne, too, said that cable networks are in "less immediate peril than direct-to-consumer sports offerings" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24).
