A New Era! $3.2 Billion Broadcast Deal!

"Then congratulations, everyone. We've reached an agreement." As Stern's pen touched the contract, the league executives beside him popped champagne to celebrate the NBA's entry into a new era.

A new era had truly arrived. The moment the tip of that pen touched the paper, the era began.

A four-year, $3.2 billion broadcast deal! (Historically, because of Jordan's departure, the NBA, NBC, TBS, and TNT had ultimately signed only a four-year, $2.5 billion deal.)

It was jointly secured by five networks: NBC, TBS, TNT, ABC, and Turner Sports!

Five networks!!!

$800 million per year!!!

$800 million!

Beginning with the 1973-74 season, CBS signed a contract with the NBA and paid it a total of $27 million in broadcast fees over three years. After that, CBS renewed its deal with the NBA four times. By the 1986-87 season, the NBA's broadcast fees had risen to $174 million over four years—nearly five times what they had been thirteen years earlier.

On April 28, 1993, NBC, TBS, and TNT signed a four-year, $892 million contract for 1994-98. At the time, that deal had already been considered astronomical.

From that moment on, player salaries began soaring, and basketball became America's second most popular sport after football. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Jordan, and The Assassin had pushed the NBA into a new era.

And now, the contract jointly offered by five networks made a single year's broadcast fees equal to the previous four years combined!

A brand-new era! A brand-new broadcast deal!

Five networks had joined forces to deliver the largest broadcast deal in NBA history.

What did that mean?

Teams' broadcast revenue would quadruple!

Of course, because the number of televised games varied, some teams with more nationally televised games would receive larger shares.

But at the very least, there was now a guaranteed