NBC Contract Will Push NBA Salaries Higher

NBC took the NBA away from CBS Thursday with a $600 million, four-year contract that could push average pro basketball salaries into the $1 million range next season.

The NBA is in the final season of a four-year, $173 million deal with CBS, which refused to meet the league’s new pricetag.

“It’s a big increase, but one I think is justified,” NBA commissioner David Stern said.

“This makes the owners and players very happy,” said Charles Grantham, executive director of players’ union. “We were close to the $1 million per player projected when the collective-bargaining agreement was signed” in 1988.

Under the agreement between the league and the NBA Players Association, 53 percent of the gross revenues go to player salaries.

Stern said that for purposes of the salary cap, the contract was evaluated at $126 million for 1990-91. Under the formula, the salary cap would rise from $9.8 million to at least $11.5 million per team. It would increase even more if non-television revenues rise.

The new pact was another example of the price escalation for TV sports and of the breakup of traditional alliances between leagues and networks. Baseball, which had been on NBC since 1947, goes to CBS starting in 1990 under a four-year, $1.06 billion deal. The Olympics, once a domain of ABC, will remain on NBC and CBS through at least 1994.

NBC, which last broadcast the NBA in 1962, lost its baseball package to CBS last December. NBC president Robert C. Wright said Thursday that NBC would not have paid that much to keep baseball even if it had known how much the market would increase.

“I would not be standing here today if we had that baseball contract hanging over our heads,” he said at a news conference announcing the NBA deal.

CBS, which had broadcast the NBA since the 1973-74 season, had the right to exclusive negotiations with the league during October. Stern said CBS was offered the same $600 million deal, but turned it down.

“CBS regrets the loss of the NBA broadcast rights after an 18-year relationship,” CBS Sports president Neal H. Pilson said in a statement. “However, the increase in the total cost of the package sought by the league from $176 million to approximately $650 million for the next four years was substantially more than we were prepared to pay. We wish the NBA a successful future and extend our congratulations to NBC. We look forward to our coverage of the NBA in the 1989-90 season.”

Stern said that CBS evaluated certain promotional arrangements with NBC as being worth $50 million. He said ABC was offered the package, too, but told the league it wasn’t interested.

Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC Sports, said he expected CBS to renew with the NBA and “was unbelievably surprised that this deal came to the street.” He called the NBA “an unbelievable national success.”

Under the contract, NBC will show 20 regular-season games. There will be a November Sunday broadcast, a Christmas telecast and a regular series of Sunday afternoon games beginning in January.

NBC will show the All-Star Game and up to 30 playoff games, all in the afternoon or prime time. Games 3 and 6 of the NBA finals will be on Sunday afternoons and the other games in prime time.

CBS, under its contract that expires at the end of the season, televises some West Coast games at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. NBC, however, will have those games start during prime time in the East. NBC officials said the request was made by the NBA. NBC also has the highly rated “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” at 11:30 Eastern time.

The new contract also means that Marv Albert, the longtime play-by-play voice of the New York Knicks and NBC’s college basketball coverage, could become the top NBA announcer on NBC.

“This is like a fantasy come true for us to get it,” said Albert, who added he had no idea if he would be considered for the job.

The NBA will now negotiate a new cable television contract to replace the two-year, $50 million deal with Turner Broadcasting Systems that expires at the end of the season. Stern said Turner has an exclusive negotiating period through the end of the month.

Under Stern’s direction, the NBA has made a complete during the 1980s. The league’s image, hurt by admissions of drug use in the late 1970s, improved with a drug agreement between the league and the union. At the same time, stars such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing became the high-profile draws needed to fill arenas and raise TV ratings.

The NBA also pushed back the start of its season until November, after the completion of the World Series. It also lessened competition with the NFL.