The WNBA’s media rights deal that was part of the NBA’s 11-year agreement is a healthy increase for a league still growing, and the story isn’t over. There were pockets of criticism about the deal, but it’s hard to fault negotiators. Let’s break it down: The WNBA receives an average annual value of $43 million from its current partners. This year, the 2024 season, the league is receiving $60 million in rights fees; starting in 2026, the deals with Disney, NBCU and Amazon will have an average annual value of $200 million for a total of $2.2 billion over the 11 years. That figure doesn’t include current partners CBS and ION, and the league could renew them or bring on additional partners, which could — could — push the league’s total AAV to between $260 million and $300 million per year, more than six times its current AAV.
Three years in, after the 2029 season, the partners agreed to reevaluate the agreements to make sure the value is at the appropriate market rate. The rights fees can’t be reduced, they could only go up, but there could also be new components added or changed. So, as of ’26, it will be at least a 365% increase in its average annual rights fee, with more partners to bring on board, and a reopener after three years. For the number of games and a short, four-month season, I found this to be a remarkable increase. While all the business metrics are trending up, remember, this is a league that the NBA has invested more than $500 million in since its inception in 1997, and is likely to lose $40 million to $50 million this year.
THE GREAT PROMOTER: There is so much I remember about the late Pat Williams, one of the last, great promoters in the sports business. His death on July 17 due to complications from viral pneumonia shouldn’t be overlooked, as he spent more than 50 years in NBA front offices with the Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls, and changed sports in Florida by bringing the Magic to Orlando in the late 1980s. Growing up, I was a huge fan of Julius Erving, and knew that Williams was the man behind signing Dr. J. I watched Williams build those solid, but seemingly-never-good-enough 76ers teams that always fell short of a championship until 1983. He had the rare combination of both business and basketball chops, and Williams was relentless in bringing the Magic to Orlando and making that franchise one of the most innovative in the league.
I got to know him over the years and found him to be nice, fun and a great storyteller. SBJ honored him as a Champion of Sports Business in 2013, and while prepping for the awards ceremony with five other honorees in a conference room in Naples, Fla., he asked innocently what time the ceremony had to end. Unprepared for the odd question and searching the agenda, I threw out a time. Well, an hour later, I found out firsthand why he wanted to know. You see, Pat was the last speaker at the awards luncheon, and as each speaker before him briefly accepted their honor, Pat, ever the showman, took the stage and knew exactly how long he could speak. Was it longer than expected? For sure. Did his words make an impact? Yes. “Great leaders have a heart for people,” he said. “They care about people. They are interested in other people. They have empathy for people. What I’m really trying to say is, they love people.”
A few years later, I learned that Pat had checked in to a hospital in my hometown of Charlotte during his travels. He was wide-eyed and surprised when I walked into his room, and our visit lasted far longer than the nurse wanted because of his stories and questions about sports business. I always enjoyed hearing from Pat, receiving signed copies of his numerous books and being on his radio show, which was the last time I spoke to him in 2022. Pat Williams didn’t play or coach basketball, but boy, did he know talent and relate well to players. He was indefatigable, so persistent, and dreamed BIG. The late David Stern loved Williams, and told SBJ, “He is somebody you want on your side.”
I’ll end with the words of a person who fully understood the legacy of Williams, his longtime colleague, Magic CEO Alex Martins, whom Williams took a chance on as a 25-year-old PR staffer at the Magic. During Williams’ memorial service in Orlando on July 26, Martins said, “As much as Pat wanted to win, he wanted to help others win. Pat’s life was about lifting other people up, and his actions spoke louder than his mighty words. … Pat Williams’ legacy is that he lived a life focused on lifting people, lifting a community up, to be the best that we all can be — individually and collectively. Pat Williams made us all better people, a better community, better family.”
Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
