The National Basketball Association extended their television deal with ESPN and TNT that is expected to increase the salary cap for the 2016-17 NBA season.
ESPN reported on Monday that the NBA finalized a nine-year contract extension that is reportedly worth around $24 billion. The new deal will take into effect in 2016 and will run until after the 2024-25 NBA season.
Under the new deal, ESPN will televise 100 regular-season games and will also broadcast 20 D-League Games. They will also continue showing NBA Summer League Games on their network along with the draft lottery, draft combine and the actual rookie draft.
TNT, on the other hand, will now televise 64 regular-season games - 12 more games than the current deal, while also earning more media rights for their different platforms.
But aside from the interesting details of the new deal, the possible significant salary cap increase is the main reason why the new TV deal is making headlines.
According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, the salary cap for the 2016-17 NBA season could go up to as high as $91.2 million, which is way higher than the current cap that stands at $63 million.
The salary cap increase will benefit all players, particularly NBA superstars like LeBron James, who anticipated the significant increase. It was the reason why he opted to sign a two-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, knowing that he could get a bigger deal in 2016.
James said in an interview that the new TV deal is a clear proof that team owners and the league are not losing money, reiterating that the players should now feel the growing popularity of the game by getting paid fairly.
"The whole thing that went on with the last negotiation process was the owners were telling us that they were losing money. There's no way they can sit in front of us and tell us that right now after we continue to see teams selling for billions of dollars," James said via ESPN.
NBA Players Association executive director Michele Roberts also said in statement that she will make sure that players will receive a fair share of the new lucrative television deal.
