Amazon's big league ambitions
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Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Amazon continues laying the groundwork for Prime to be to sports streaming what ESPN was to cable.
Why it matters: Live sports provide a great solution for streamers seeking to keep grabbing advertising dollars.
Driving the news: Amazon is closing in on a deal to make it one of three partners with the NBA, a source with knowledge of those talks confirmed to Axios.
- The league and Amazon have agreed to a framework of an agreement that would ultimately put a mix of regular season and playoff games on Amazon Prime.
The big picture: Adding the NBA would be the latest salvo for Amazon's quickly growing sports business.
- The tech giant is heading into its third season as the exclusive home of the NFL's "Thursday Night Football" — for which it's paying $1 billion per year — and will air its first-ever playoff game next January.
- In April, Amazon extended its deal with the WNBA for two more seasons.
- Next year, Amazon will begin streaming NASCAR races, including the racing circuit's new in-season tournament.
Amazon's also exerting its influence on the local TV side.
- It's backing Diamond Sports Group's attempt to emerge from bankruptcy with a $115 million investment that would make Prime Video the streaming home for teams carried by Bally Sports networks.
- Amazon is also helping Diamond in its negotiations with the NBA on new local TV deals, per Puck, an essential element for the beleaguered RSN group to exit bankruptcy.
- Axios has confirmed Amazon's involvement in those talks, but the source stressed that Diamond is still leading those talks.
State of play: Amazon rivals YouTube, Apple and Netflix are engaged in a land grab for sports rights.
- Netflix, after years of saying they weren't interested in paying for sports rights, signed a three-season deal to stream the NFL's Christmas Day games.
- YouTube is the exclusive home of NFL's Sunday Ticket package, which offers access to out-of-market Sunday afternoon games.
- Apple is in the middle of a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer and streams exclusive MLB games on Fridays.
- Roku just signed a deal with MLB for Sunday morning games.
The bottom line: Amazon isn't just adding sports. It's building authority in the industry's future.
