With brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• Front Office Sports reports that Amazon, having signed an 11-year, $11 billion deal with the National Football League (NFL) to carry Thursday Night Football games, now would like to make a similar deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for Tuesday or Thursday night games.
According to the story, the goal is to "create the NBA’s version of ‘TNF,’ said sources. According to sources, the NBA also likes that Amazon draws an audience seven years younger than the NFL’s legacy TV partners.
"Beginning with the 2025-26 season, the NBA will seek an estimated $50 billion to $75 billion for its next cycle of long-term media rights.
"The league is still negotiating exclusively with incumbent media rights partners: The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports’ TNT."
The piece in The Information that I cited above notes that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is a huge sports fan, and he acknowledges interest in an NBA package. This would be a big deal - it would generate guaranteed viewership, generate new Prime members who spend more on the site, and also offers a new revenue stream of advertising dollars. I think this is a matter of "when," not "if."
• The Fresh Market announced last week that it has contracted with Door Dash to handle delivery from all of its 161 stores.
According to the announcement, "All participating The Fresh Market stores will be available on DashPass, DoorDash’s membership program that offers members $0 delivery fees from thousands of restaurants, grocery, and convenience stores nationwide. DashPass members can enjoy these benefits on all eligible orders of $35 or more from The Fresh Market.
