After months of speculation about just how big the NBA's next television and media rights contract would be, the numbers are in, and they're unprecedented.
NBA to announce $24 billion/9 year deal w/ ESPN and TNT on Monday. Annual average value nearly 3x current deal.
— Richard Sandomir (@RichSandomir) October 6, 2014
Annual avg value of new NBA deal soars from about $930M to $2.66B. New deal starts after 2015-16 season.
— Richard Sandomir (@RichSandomir) October 6, 2014
Commissioner Adam Silver will announce the new deal and address the media at 10:00 am EST on Monday, the league said in a press release earlier Sunday.
The league's current TV contract with ESPN/ABC and Turner, which was for $7.5 billion over eight years, is set to expire after the 2015-16 season.
The massive boost to Basketball Related Income the NBA will receive with this deal should see the league's annual salary cap soar over the next number of years.
With that, player salaries should also see significant increases, which isn't lost on the players.
A lucrative new contract was expected, and was the major reason LeBron James' new contract with the Cavaliers is short (two years) and includes a player option after this season.
James and others will stand to earn a lot more by becoming free agents after the league's new TV revenues are taken into account and the cap rises.
The only question now is whether the NBA will see one mammoth spike in the cap in the summer of 2016, or whether they'll smooth the increase over time, starting with the 2015-16 season.