NBA & Amazon's potential $50 billion deal seeks to drop streamable version of 'Thursday Night Football': Reports

Amazon envisions creating an NBA equivalent of "Thursday Night Football." Thursdays are one of the most successful nights in the NFL's weekly calendar and are ubiquitous among sports fans across North America. The NBA doesn't have a "big night" of games each week. Instead, the league tries to distribute its marquee matchups throughout its nightly calendar.

Sports Illustrated reported that Amazon and the NBA are working toward a deal that could be valued between $50 and $70 billion for media rights. The starting date for any potential deal would be the 2025-26 season, which is just two NBA cycles away.

"The NBA is reportedly intrigued in Amazon’s ability to attract a demographic that’s seven years younger than the NFL’s legacy partners and is looking for $50-75 billion for its next cycle of long-term media rights deals starting in the 2025–26 season," Joseph Salvador of Sports Illustrated wrote.

Amazon has been making inroads into the sporting world in recent years. The streaming giants recently acquired rights to show some EPL games via its service, and has been making successful sports documentaries over the past 5-10 years. The NBA would unlock a new type of audience with a potential Amazon deal.

Furthermore, the notion of creating a "big night" each week with a stacked slate of games could be appealing to the league and its team of owners.

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Amazon would be breaking up the NBA's current streaming partners

The NBA broadcast is split between ESPN, ABC and Fox Sports. The league also has its own successful streaming platform in NBA League pass. Should Amazon win the bidding war for the league's media rights, it would be gatecrashing multiple partnerships with long-standing connections to the league.

However, the media landscape is changing. Younger audiences opt for on-demand content rather than tuning into live events. As such, Amazon could provide a similar package to League Pass, where its audience can catch games after they've occurred or add extra features to the streams.

The league has gone from strength to strength over the past 20 years. With so many high-profile players and the incoming Victor Wembanyama having so much hype around him, the NBA finds itself in a strong negotiating position.

Furthermore, such a large deal would likely have a direct effect on the NBA salary cap, allowing teams and players to earn a larger sum of money. Of course, the byproduct of any salary cap increase, is the incredible value of contracts would continue to rise.