All NBA games are now available on streaming platforms, but that doesn’t mean they’re equally available nationwide.
Regional TV territory zones still determine how fans can consistently watch their teams. There are wide disparities in how many nationally televised games different teams play. And now, there’s also a spread in how teams are distributing their games locally. Put it together, and some New Orleans Pelicans fans only need to shell out $9 to watch their team all season long while certain New York Knicks fans will need more than $200 worth of services for access to the team’s entire title defense, playoffs not included. An antenna could come in handy too.
After the dissolution of the FanDuel Sports Networks, fewer than half of NBA teams will have their games primarily available on paid cable channels this season. Every team’s games will stream locally, with many franchises also airing contests on freely available over-the-air broadcast stations. Meanwhile, up to 34 games per team will be on ABC/ESPN, Amazon Prime Video or NBC/Peacock nationally, with many of those games also available on a team’s regional platform.
How NBA regional TV rights are divided
As NBA media strategy has evolved in the last two years, the territorial lines that determine how fans can access a given game have remained largely unchanged.
Whether teams are distributing their games via cable, airwaves or the internet, they only have rights to broadcast within a given area. That ground typically spans a team’s home state and often includes neighboring states, though it generally does not include the area within 75 miles of another team (assuming those two teams don’t share the same home city). Within that given territory, a team’s games are unavailable on the NBA’s out-of-market, $110/season League Pass product.
Spurs games on DAZN, for example, are available across Texas, except around Dallas and Houston, where Victor Wembanyama acolytes can instead use League Pass.
In many places, a single team is blacked out on League Pass, but things can get more complicated, particularly in states without teams. In Warren, Arkansas, the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks all offer their local games, while those teams’ games are unavailable through League Pass. Across the state line in Monroe, Louisiana, it’s the New Orleans Pelicans, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks who can plant their local TV flags.
There are two regions where four teams compete, in parts of Oregon (Trail Blazers, Kings, Warriors and Jazz) and California (Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings), according to analysis from online sports viewing guide EntitledSports, meaning those teams are not available through League Pass in those areas. A hypothetical NBA obsessive in Hanford, California, without cable or satellite TV, would need to spend more than $400 on local streaming services—in addition to accessing national TV games—to watch every NBA contest this season. A fan in Pullman, West Virginia, or New London, Connecticut, on the other hand, can watch every non-national game via NBA League Pass, no regional service needed.
Of course, many fans already pay for cable or other services, lowering the additional cost come hoops season.
The structure of regional exclusivity exists across MLB and the NHL as well, along with the possibility of a single fan being within the regional footprint of multiple teams. MLB fans in Des Moines, Iowa or Las Vegas can be blacked out from six teams’ games on MLB.TV.
The channel-flipping conundrum
The migration of sports to streaming services has also made it more complicated to bounce between local and national fare, even if individual games are more widely available now. A handful of teams’ streaming services are available in the NBA app, where fans can stream League Pass contests as well. Last year, FanDuel Sports Network’s streaming service could be bought through Amazon, which also carries League Pass and its own exclusive games. This year, eight teams’ games are available through Prime Video Channels subscriptions, while the Atlanta Hawks can be watched by any Prime Video subscriber in a footprint spanning five states. Hawks games are also carried by local broadcast group Gray Media on free TV channels.
The Hawks are one of 11 teams sharing all their regionally covered games for free over-the-air, sacrificing some potential subscriber revenue for the ability to reach more fans and generate financial returns from advertising or other means. Others are distributing up to 22 games that way while driving fans to a paid service to get every regionally covered game.
DAZN has signed up five teams on exclusive deals (including some games being shown for free), with six other teams streaming games through its platform while using other forms of distribution too.
Thanks to the Pelicans’ OTA strategy, plus the fact New Orleans only has two games exclusively on national services, they’re among the cheapest to watch for in-market fans. Pelicans games also stream in-market through the NBA app for $105/season. The Knicks are available locally through a $30/month subscription, sold through DAZN’s apps and Prime Video, while also keeping their spot in cable TV packages. They have 34 nationally televised games, though 19 of those will also be covered regionally.
Fans only looking to watch nationally televised games without cable will need about $280 worth of ESPN, Prime Video and Peacock subscriptions, not counting NBA TV contests.
All of this is subject to change. As early as next year, the NBA could bundle a set of local team rights for a super-streamer like YouTube or Amazon. In the streaming age, MLS completely removed its regional restrictions, making all games available everywhere. However, doing so risks sacrificing some portion of local media rights revenue—last year, local media revenue contributed 10% of teams’ overall take.
In theory, it should be easier for a would-be fan to follow the local squad compared to a team hundreds of miles away. But this season, it’s quite possible that picking a preferred streaming platform will play a role in determining which squads someone regularly watches—and roots for.