How Much Does the NBA Make a Year?
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How much does the NBA make a year? We take a look at the league’s revenue and how it is divided among the teams.
NBA’s Income
Television Deals
The NBA currently has nine television partners — ABC/ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and six regional sports networks. These deals are worth a combined $24 billion and run through the 2024-25 season. That’s an average of about $2.67 billion per year, which is a significant increase from the $930 million per year the league was making under its previous television contracts.
The NBA’s new television deals are a big part of why the salary cap has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, the league’s television revenue is expected to jump from $930 million in 2013-14 to $2.6 billion by 2016-17. That’s a huge increase, and it’s one of the main reasons why the salary cap has gone up so much in recent years.
Merchandising
The NBA has a wide array of merchandise, from replica jerseys to neckties, that are sold in stores and online around the world. The league also has licensing agreements with companies that produce other products, such as video games, trading cards, and sneakers. In addition to these traditional sources of revenue, the NBA has begun to explore new avenues for generating income from merchandising. For example, the league has entered into a partnership with DraftKings, a daily fantasy sports platform, which allows fans to buy official NBA merchandise through the DraftKings website.
The NBA’s income from merchandising is not publically disclosed, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year. This revenue stream is an important part of the league’s overall business model, and it is likely that the NBA will continue to find new ways to monetize its popular brand.
Ticket Sales
The NBA makes a lot of money from ticket sales. In the 2016-2017 season, the average ticket price was $110. That means that the league made $7.1 billion in ticket sales alone. That’s a lot of money! And it doesn’t even include things like concessions and merchandise sales.
NBA’s Expenses
Player Salaries
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a men’s professional basketball league in North America, composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). It is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world. The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by FIBA (also known as the International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. NBA players are the world’s best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.
Player salaries vary widely, with rookies earning a minimum of $582,180 and veteran players earning up to $37,950,000 per year. Salaries are governed by a collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players’ union, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). In December 2018, it was announced that player salaries would increase by 24% over a four-year period beginning with the 2020–21 season. The average salary for an NBA player during the 2019–20 season was $7.7 million.
Arena and Stadium Maintenance
Stadiums and arenas are expensive to maintain. In order to keep them up and running, teams have to constantly invest money in repairs and renovations. The NBA is no different. In fact, the league has one of the highest maintenance budgets of any professional sports organization.
Last year, the NBA spent a total of $24 million on arena and stadium maintenance. This may seem like a lot of money, but it’s actually a relatively small amount when you consider the size and scope of the league. In comparison, the NFL spent $74 million on stadium maintenance last year.
The NBA’s maintenance budget is primarily used for two things: repairing existing facilities and building new ones. In recent years, the league has invested heavily in both areas.
In 2016, the NBA spent $17 million on repair and renovation projects at existing stadiums and arenas. This included things like replacing seats, repairing scoreboards, and upgrading concession stands.
The league also invested $7 million in new construction projects last year. These were mostly small-scale projects, such as adding new locker rooms or upgrading team facilities.
League Operations
The NBA says that its 30 teams generated a combined $8.76 billion in revenue during the 2017-18 season. Of that total, about 70%, or $6.2 billion, went to team owners as player salaries and benefits, taxes and other operating expenses. The players’ share of basketball-related income was 51%, according to the NBA’s most recent collective bargaining agreement.
The league also takes in revenue from its investment arm, NBA Ventures, which owns and operates businesses such as the NBA Store and NBA TV. That venture generated $734 million in revenue during the 2017-18 season. The league also took in $800 million from its share of ticket sales and another $300 million from licensed merchandise sales.
