The COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 hit the sports industry hard. Many professional leagues across the globe suspended their seasons, including the National Basketball Association in the United States. At the time the season was suspended in March 2020, there were still 259 games left in the 2019/20 NBA regular season. Combined league gate revenues lost as a result of these cancellations was estimated at between 350 and 450 million U.S. dollars.

COVID-19 has Hit the NBA hard over the past few seasons, most notably through lost ticket revenues which are estimated to have cost them $3,222.64 million over the past two season. To offset these deals the league retains strong commercial growth, with team sponsorship worth $1,146.57 million a year across the active teams. The league is coming into the finals years of its current national media rights contracts and has already targeted a big increase when negotiations begin in 2022. In sponsorship the league has already seen a major growth trend in the number of cryptocurrency brands entering into partnerships, with Socios.com alone signing 17 unique team deals. Read More

Commercially speaking, a watershed moment for the National Basketball Association (NBA) came during the 2017/18 season when jersey patch sponsors were introduced. Following this move, the NBA’s sponsorship revenue grew by nearly a third and, in 2023, reached 1.66 billion U.S. dollars.
Who are the NBA’s main sponsors? Before the introduction of jersey sponsors for the 2017/18 season, Nike signed an eight-year deal in 2015 with the NBA to become the league’s new official outfitter. The NBA also partners with technology giants such as Microsoft and Rakuten and, more recently, struck sponsorship deals with cryptocurrency companies like the crypto-based gaming company Sorare. Some NBA franchises, however, have been unfortunate in their choice of cryptocurrency sponsors, with the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors both seeing their partnerships with FTX fall apart after the latter’s bankruptcy in 2022.
What is the total revenue of the NBA? Except for a slump during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the total league revenue of the NBA has also grown significantly in the last decade and stood at over 10 billion U.S. dollars. Making up a significant share of this total was the Golden State Warriors, whose revenue stream of 765 million U.S. dollars in 2023 made it the NBA franchise with the most revenue that year. With four NBA championships to their name since 2015, the Warriors’ financial performance has been a fair reflection of the franchise’s on-court performance.