What is the annual revenue of the NBA? The National Basketball Association is one of the most profitable professional sports in the United States, pulling in more than $10 billion annually. While it pales in comparison to NFL revenue, the NBA is doing just fine.
Unsurprisingly, the sources and levels of NBA revenue have changed over the years. The league used to rely more heavily on ticket and merchandise sales, counting on tens of millions of fans to attend games throughout the regular season and NBA playoffs.
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With the NBA agreeing to new TV rights contracts with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon, we’re taking a look at the league’s rising revenue over time and how important streaming and cable are to its future.
What is the annual revenue of the NBA?
The NBA generated $10.58 billion in revenue across the 2022-’23 season, the highest recorded in league history. It marked the second consecutive year that NBA revenue cleared $10 billion, with the league crossing that mark for the first time in the 2021-’22 season.
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NBA TV revenue: New TV deals will
Here is a breakdown of how much the NBA’s broadcasting partners will be paying for the rights to both regular-season games and the NBA playoffs beginning with the 2025-’26 season. We’ve also included in our table a comparison to what the networks previously contributed to NBA revenue.
| Partner | Annual Cost (Before) | Annual Cost (2025-) | TV Package |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN/ABC | Partner | $2.8 billion | NBA Finals, WNBA, primetime games |
| NBC | N/A | $2.6 billion | 2 playoff series, primetime games |
| Amazon | N/A | $2 billion | In-Season Tournament, Play-In, WNBA |
| Turner Sports | $1.2 billion | N/A | Primetime games, NBA playoffs |
In total, the NBA is agreeing to 11-year deals to sell the broadcasting rights for its games to Amazon, NBC and ESPN worth a total of $76 billion, which is more than 2.5 times the total of the league’s current TV rights deals with Disney, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Previously, Amazon was paying the NBA for streaming rights to 16 WNBA games per season prior to the 2024 season when it increased that to 25 WNBA games. Under the new deal, Amazon will pay $2 billion annually for streaming rights to the NBA In-Season Tournament, the NBA Play-In Tournament and more WNBA games beginning with the 2025-’26 season.
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NBA revenue by team (2022-’23)
Here is a breakdown of how much NBA revenue each team made during the 2022-’23 season, courtesy of Forbes NBA valuations.
| Team | Revenue | Team | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden State Warriors | $765 million | Atlanta Hawks | $323 million |
| Los Angeles Lakers | $516 million | Washington Wizards | $323million |
| New York Knicks | $504 million | San Antonio Spurs | $319 million |
| Boston Celtics | $443 million | Toronto Raptors | $305 million |
| Dallas Mavericks | $429 million | Portland Trail Blazers | $300 million |
| Los Angeles Clippers | $425 million | Sacramento Kings | $289 million |
| Houston Rockets | $381 million | Utah Jazz | $274 million |
| Chicago Bulls | $372 million | Detroit Pistons | $274 million |
| Miami Heat | $371 million | Charlotte Hornets | $269 million |
| Philadelphia 76ers | $371 million | Oklahoma City Thunder | $267 million |
| Brooklyn Nets | $367 million | Indiana Pacers | $263 million |
| Phoenix Suns | $366 million | New Orleans Pelicans | $262 million |
| Denver Nuggets | $348 million | Orlando Magic | $261 million |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | $348 million | Minnesota Timberwolves | $259 million |
| Milwaukee Bucks | $329 million | Memphis Grizzlies | $258 million |
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How does the NBA make profit?
The NBA makes a profit thanks to its multi-billion dollar NBA TV rights contracts, merchandise, sponsorships and ticket sales with the NBA revenue distributed to all 30 teams.
NBA sponsorship revenue ahead in 2024 hit $1.5 billion, the most in league history, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico.com. Notably, individual team sponsorship revenue rose 7 percent during the 2023-’24 NBA season, in part thanks to the introduction of things like sponsored patches on jerseys.
As for where that spending comes from, Badenhauser reports that alcohol companies spent $98 million on branding with the NBA. Technology companies spent $122 million on NBA sponsorships, with healthcare ($105 million) and finance companies ($247 million) among the biggest NBA sponsors this season.