In a letter to the NBA's Board of Governors, James Dolan criticized the NBA's upcoming $74.6 billion media rights deal and revenue-sharing policy, saying the new media agreement would make the Regional Sports Networks “unviable.”
“As the NBA moves toward the NFL model, it is marginalizing and weakening local markets,” Dolan said in the letter. “For the foreseeable future, your only revenue concerns will be ticket sales and next year's uniform color. Don't worry, because by pooling revenues, there is no guarantee of success or failure.”
“Of course, to get there, the league will have to dismantle its more successful franchises and redistribute them to its less successful franchises. This new media deal will go a long way to achieving that goal.”
Dolan criticized the league's plan to retain $6 billion, or 8 percent, of total NBA fees, saying there was “no sufficient basis or transparency as to how that amount was calculated, how the fees would be allocated, or the extent to which the league will use this estimated revenue increase to incur new and additional costs, further expanding the league's ever-increasing expense levels.”
According to the letter, Dolan expressed dissatisfaction with the league's proposal's $358 million increase in 2025-2026 compared to the league's current media contract's $15 million (0.5 percent) retention for the 2024-2025 season.
According to the letter, Dolan also took issue with the league's proposed revenue sharing for sponsorship and local television packages. Dolan said the league's “proposal would also negatively impact the value of each member team's local sponsorship,” which would result in on-camera perks being offered at just 23 home games, a reduction of approximately 20 percent from previous perks.
Dolan also said that “team sponsors and partners will no longer be protected” during national broadcasts, which would undermine the value of the premium that they can charge member team sponsors as the only third parties to be promoted in certain sponsorship categories.
“…These changes will create an especially unfavorable environment for member team sponsors and significantly increase the challenges associated with obtaining and renewing critical sponsorship revenues.”
Dolan concluded in the letter, “We believe our concerns are shared by many stakeholders around the league, all of whom will be similarly affected. The league will likely say it's OK because franchise values will continue to increase, because it expects to eventually sell…”
“Once again, ownership pride has fallen victim. We are becoming a uniform, personality-less organization. We must remember that we owe it all to owners like Jerry Buss.”
