The Suns and Mercury Celebrate a Successful Local Media Deal
After two years of being the first NBA team to break with its struggling regional television network partner, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury are celebrating a resounding success with a new local media rights deal that has practically replaced the revenue. The Suns and Mercury have agreed to a two-year extension with Gray Media to broadcast their games for free in Arizona through the 2027-28 season. The deal is worth more than $30 million per season, restoring the money they left on the table when they broke with a long-standing partnership with Diamond Sports, which was then in bankruptcy, in 2023. This lucrative contract came after the Suns’ local viewership more than doubled and the Mercury’s, in addition to a general increase in WNBA viewership, saw their audience grow by 425%.At the time, it was an aggressive and unorthodox move, and Diamond Sports sued the team for breach of contract. The lawsuit was eventually settled, and the Suns moved forward by producing their own broadcasts and airing them over the air, running promotions to give away free television antennas to fans. They also launched a streaming service for their games called Suns+. Several other NBA teams dealing with regional sports network (RSN) issues followed Phoenix in putting their games on local over-the-air television stations for free, including the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, and New Orleans Pelicans. The fall of RSNs as a result of the decline in cable television is one of the biggest financial problems currently facing the NBA. While this season begins a new 11-year, $77 billion national media rights deal that ensures revenue growth, reductions in local television revenue resulted in the league slightly reducing its previously projected salary cap figures for this season. NBA teams are expected to receive around $145 million each from rights deals next season, but some teams are dealing with reductions in their local television deals. For example, earlier this year, the New York Knicks agreed to reduce their local television deal by $41 million for the 2025-26 season as part of a restructuring plan with MSG Networks. Ishbia said he has been in contact with several fellow owners who are exploring how to handle changing market conditions and hopes the initial success of the Suns and Mercury can continue. In the next two years, 18 teams will have their agreements with RSNs expire, and the NBA is looking for ways to create options both on free-to-air and streaming platforms.“It’s been a win-win situation,” said Mat Ishbia, owner of the Suns and Mercury. “It was about doing the right thing for the fans and making the games more accessible. And when you grow your fan base, good things happen.”
Mat Ishbia, owner of the Suns and Mercury
“Everyone wanted to wait and see, it’s a big deal to take less money [local television] or even have no money and trust it,” Ishbia said. “Hopefully it can be a model for other NBA teams. You do the right thing for the customer and good things usually happen.”
Mat Ishbia, Suns and Mercury owner
