Watching the NBA Has Become Too Costly, Confusing and Challenging

Like many professional sports leagues, the NBA is looking to adapt to a changing media landscape, both to continue driving revenue and fan interest. But, is there concern that in achieving the former, it’s damaging the latter?

Here’s what the numbers have to say.

A New Channel For Each Different Day

One NBA campaign consists of 1,230 games, with each of the 32 teams playing 82 games in a given regular season. That number obviously rises once the postseason gets accounted for, which includes three best-of-seven conference playoff series plus the NBA Finals.

The growing challenge right now for fans is simply that watching the NBA means having access (and being able to afford) all these different platforms the game is on.

In a given week, games can be seen on ABC, NBC and Peacock, just Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, both ABC and Prime and both Prime and ABC. That’s six different combinations. The bigger issue is that no one day is the same.

For example, say you didn’t own Prime. Suddenly, you’re missing out on quality/nationally-televised regular-season games from Thursday to Saturday, just under half a given week. If you subscribe to ESPN, you’re covered for four of the days in a week, but you lose out on at least Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. That’s just a few hypotheticals.

Plus, it’d be one thing if it were just the NBA regular season. And yes, this sweeping change in viewership also includes the playoffs. The league confirmed in this post that postseason games will air on any of ABC, ESPN, NBC and Peacock and Prime. The entire Play-In Tournament will air entirely on Prime.

At first glance, the NBA seems like it’s trying to model the NFL. Certain platforms correlate with certain days to watch the spot. Think Sunday Night Football on NBC and Thursday Night Football on Peacock.

However, the math soon becomes overwhelming. Each NFL team plays 17 regular-season games. That’s less than a fifth of how much each NBA team plays and how much fans might like to watch.

A Significant Price Tag

For even the super fans, finding the games may not be the biggest challenge. That honor might have to go to the cost. Let’s do some more math.

YouTubeTV grants you access to ESPN, ABC and NBC. The platform’s base plan offers a reduced rate of $72.99 a month for the first three months, then bumps up to $82.99 every month after. In one calendar year, that’s almost $1,000. The final number comes out to exactly $965.88.

Keep in mind: that’s just to see the games on the main networks. Prime and Peacock still have to be factored in.

Prime offers a 30-day free trial. After that, it’s $14.99 a month. Multiply that by 11 months, and you get $164.89. For Peacock, you need at least the Premium to get access to live sports. If you pay outright for the annual subscription, that costs $109.99. And remember: these are all the lowest possible tiers, meaning plans like these also mean tons of advertisements during your viewing experience.

Time to add the totals all together. In one calendar year, the final cost is… $1,240.76. That’s just over $100 per month.

That monthly price tag, some would argue, is small in the bigger picture, especially for salaried workers, for example. That said, without diving too much into economics, with costs rising substantially in the day-to-day lives of many, that $100 could be a difference for some.

The NBA Is Navigating a Challenging Landscape

In defense of the NBA, it has to meet audiences where they are at. Yes, streaming is becoming more mainstream. The number of traditional television packages is shrinking by the year. As Silver said and rightly so, it might be more convenient for fans to catch the highlights on a platform like YouTube.

With that said, is it a necessary action for the league? Some would say yes, while others would vehemently disagree. But, is it good for the health of the NBA? There’s a strong case for that to be a no.

The reasons are spelled out. Costs and the complexity of watching the league in a given week are becoming too much for the NBA’s audience, even its core fans, to handle. There are too many platforms to manage. The regular season is becoming diluted, and arguably the NBA’s most prized possession – the playoffs – is likewise turning to this multi-platform viewing experience.

Fans who love the games will continue to watch in most cases. But in terms of driving a bigger audience, the NBA is facing a tricky road ahead.