How much does the NBA make a year?

The NBA’s finances are in fine fettle, with the league reporting steady gains and projecting a 12% revenue increase in 2025/26 over the previous season. Even as a high-profile scandal briefly cast a shadow over its reputation, the association has largely insulated itself from lasting damage.

Meanwhile, the league has secured a series of landmark deals, including a $76 billion media rights agreement, that promise to turbocharge cash inflows in the years ahead. All of this unfolds amid a surge of global interest, as the NBA aggressively pursues international expansion and worldwide adoption.

What is the NBA’s financial model and how does it work?

Key to the NBA’s business success is engagement with fans. NBA audiences are some of the most passionate crowds in the sport, and viewership, as well as merchandise sales, have been climbing steadily. Here is a quick overview of the league’s business model and how it works today.

• Media Rights: Media rights historically play the biggest contributor to the NBA’s revenue model, and the recent $76bn deal signed by the league clearly demonstrates this. This package is three times larger than the previous one and kicked off in 2025/26, and will continue through 2035/2036. The NBA has now reached its highest viewership in the past 15 years, with national TV game viewership up 89% compared to 2023/2024.
• Merchandising: Merchandising has been a steady flow of revenue for the league, which has continued to expand its sales. In 2025/26 alone, merch sales are up 20%, demonstrating a strong fan engagement and affinity for teams in the 30-franchise league format.
• Sponsorships & Licensing: Sponsorships are another key driver of revenue for the league. The projections for the currentseason put the overall revenue at $1.62bn.
• Physical Venues: NBA Arenas are built to be multi-purpose facilities, and they play a key part in helping generateconsistent revenue for the franchises and the league. Besides ticket sales, parking fees, and various other amenities, most arenas also moonlight as hosts of concerts, conferences, and other entertainment or business events. The Cavaliers managed to achieve a 70% increase in the new season ticket memberships in 2025/26.

The NBA’s new media rights - an unprecedented boost

The NBA has been in good standing for the 2025/26 season, with the association signing a new media deal with Amazon, ESPN/ABC, and NBC. The deal, which was first and exclusively reported by media outlet Sportico, is an 11-year contract worth $76bn, which will offer a significant bump to revenue and team gains.

This means that each franchise in the league is set to receive $143m in the 2025/26 season alone from TV revenue specifically, up from $103m previously. The premium will gradually increase by 7% on average through 2035/36, when teams will receive $281m. The media deal alone is bringing an average of $6.9bn per season already.

While this covers the league’s franchises, the league itself is on track to surpass the $12.75bn it reported in revenue in 2023/2024, and is set to hit $14.3bn in 2025/2026. The new media deal is important for another reason, too - as the figures demonstrate, it has nearly tripled the value of the previous media rights contract.

Leaning into digital and social media

Social media has consistently helped flesh out the league’s revenue model, with the NBA dexterously tapping into emerging trends. The NBA has leaned heavily into short-form digital content

These efforts have been steadily paying off, because the NBA reported at the end of December 2025 that it had been the most-viewed brand on social media on Christmas, with its various content generating 1.6bn views.

In real terms, that is a 23% gain in views on Christmas 2024. In the first month of the 2025/26 season, the NBA said that it had generated 30 billion views alone across its digital and social media content, possibly tying into higher merch sales, subscriptions, and time spent on the official app.

Global reach and expansion

NBA’s global ambitions are another shot at driving revenue, with the league bringing in an estimated 15% of its revenue from international deals, such as media rights, merchandise sales, and sponsorships.

This is not an insignificant amount, and it is an important stream to establish, as it allows the league to look past its domestic market and start cultivating business-impacting relationships abroad.

Part of this strategy has been upping the number of overseas games, with 12 international games now planned for 2025/26, up from eight a season ago, including regular-season games in Berlin, Germany, and London, the United Kingdom.

These moves have proven auspicious for business, as more than 450,000 people registered for tickets hoping to be able to attend, demonstrating the league’s overseas appeal and untapped business opportunity.

At ticket prices of $230 or more, aggregate demand implied by registrations would exceed $100m, highlighting significant unmet demand, though only a fraction of registrants can ultimately be accommodated.

The NBA’s return to China also reopens one of its most valuable international markets, with long-term media partnerships previously valued at around $1.5bn.

Bringing it home: NBA’s finances are on an upward trajectory

The NBA’s mix of media rights, merchandise, sponsorships, and arenas, combined with strong social media engagement and international expansion, has created a diversified and resilient business model.

With record-breaking deals and growing global reach, the league is well-positioned to keep expanding its fan base and revenue well beyond its stomping ground in the US, already driving forays in Europe, China, and beyond.

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