Scheffler’s Story in the News: Rights Fees and NBA Matching Rights

NBC Sports revealed that Golf Channel chose not to report on Scottie Scheffler’s arrest at the PGA Championship due to contractual limitations. The #1-ranked golfer was arrested as he tried to enter the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville during a traffic stoppage caused by a fatal accident. Despite the story being the dominant sports news of the morning, Golf Channel stuck with pre-taped programming as they were contractually unable to provide live coverage from the tournament.

In other sports media news, Netflix is reportedly shelling out $70-80 million per game for the Christmas Day NFL games it acquired in a three-year deal. This price tag is on par with what Amazon paid for its Wild Card weekend game and exceeds the amount paid for the Amazon Black Friday regular season contest. Additionally, Roku has secured the rights to Sunday morning Major League Baseball games for an average of $10 million per year, a significant decrease from the $30 million Comcast previously paid.

Meanwhile, the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery are currently in discussions regarding WBD’s ability to match third-party bids for NBA rights. Comcast has bid $2.5 billion per year for the rights package, and the key point of contention is whether WBD can match that offer solely by paying the same price. The contractual language surrounding WBD’s matching rights is ambiguous, and it remains unclear if the NBA has the power to reject a match offered by WBD. Comcast has yet to submit an official bid that would trigger WBD’s ability to match, and it is also reported that WBD may not have matching rights for Amazon’s offer for a new package of games.