NBA projecting $14.3 billion in revenue for 2025-26 season

In the first year of its new media rights deal with ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, the NBA is projecting a total of $14.3 billion in overall gross revenue for the 2025/26 season, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico.

That would represent a 12% increase on last season’s $12.75 billion in league-wide revenue, Badenhausen writes, adding that the league shared the projection with team owners in September.

The $14.3 billion projection takes into account all of the revenue generated by the league and its teams, with the exception of the money teams make from non-NBA events at the arenas they own and operate, Badenhausen explains. While many revenue streams factor into the total, the $76 billion media deal is a driving factor in the projected increase — each team’s TV revenue will rise from $103MM to $143MM this season, Badenhausen says, with that number increasing by 7% annually going forward.

Basketball-related income, which represents a portion of the league’s total revenue, is the figure used to the NBA’s salary cap from year to year. Last season, Badenhausen notes, the NBA’s BRI ($10.25 billion) came in lower than anticipated, having been negatively impacted by a turbulent local media landscape and the fact that multiple small-market teams made deep postseason runs, which reduced overall gate receipts for the playoffs. As a result, players had to return roughly $484MM to teams to meet the 51/49 revenue split between players and owners.

However, the new media rights deal should help ensure a larger BRI figure in 2025/26, which bodes well for players retaining their full salaries (or even receiving supplemental checks) and for the growth of the salary cap going forward.