Suns and Mercury Celebrate New Local Media Deal
After being the first NBA team to break with their struggling regional television partner, the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury are reaping the rewards of their bold decision with a new local media rights deal that has revitalized their 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. This agreement, valued at over $30 million per season, according to sources close to the matter, recovers the revenue they stopped receiving when they separated from Diamond Sports in 2023, which was in bankruptcy at the time. This lucrative contract has been boosted by the doubling of the Suns’ local audiences and the impressive 425% growth in the Mercury’s audience, against a backdrop of widespread growth in WNBA audiences.At the time, this was an aggressive and unusual measure, which led Diamond Sports to sue the team for breach of contract. The lawsuit was eventually resolved, and the Suns went on to produce their own broadcasts and air them over the air. In addition, they launched promotions to give away free television antennas to fans and created a streaming service called Suns+. Several NBA teams, also facing issues with regional sports networks (RSN), followed Phoenix’s lead and began airing their games for free on local stations, including the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, and New Orleans Pelicans. The situation of the RSNs, which are affected by the decrease in cable subscribers, represents one of the biggest financial challenges currently facing the NBA. While a new 11-year, $77 billion national media rights deal is starting this season, which ensures revenue growth, reductions in local television revenue have led the league to slightly decrease salary cap projections for this season. NBA teams are expected to receive around $145 million each from the rights deals next season. However, some teams are dealing with reductions in their local television deals. Ishbia has been in contact with several owners who are exploring how to handle changing market conditions and hopes that the initial success of the Suns and Mercury can continue. In the next two years, 18 teams will see their agreements with RSNs expire, and the NBA is looking at options in both over-the-air television and streaming platforms.“It’s been a win-win situation. It was about doing the right thing for the fans and making the games more accessible. And when you grow the fan base, good things happen,” said Mat Ishbia, owner of the Suns and Mercury.
Mat Ishbia
“Everyone wanted to wait and see, it’s a big deal to take less money [from local television] or even none and trust in it,” Ishbia said. “Hopefully it can be a model for other NBA teams. If you do the right thing for the customer, good things tend to happen.”
Mat Ishbia
