In a landmark development that merges traditional sports with interactive entertainment and media evolution, the NBA has renewed and significantly expanded its global partnership with Take-Two Interactive, while the WNBA has extended its media rights agreement with Scripps Sports, signaling the growing convergence of sport, gaming, and broadcast innovation.
These moves underscore the evolving commercial models across basketball — both men’s and women’s — as the NBA ecosystem looks to future-proof its fan engagement, and the WNBA scales its reach through mass-market accessibility.
NBA and Take-Two: From Game Development to Full-Scale Entertainment
At the heart of the NBA’s renewed partnership with Take-Two is the announcement of NBA Take-Two Media — a new joint entertainment company that will go far beyond traditional gaming.
While NBA 2K remains the anchor product — one of the most successful sports video games in history — this new venture shifts the model toward a multi-platform digital entertainment universe. The company will produce original programming, social-first content, influencer-led storytelling, and immersive live events — blending gaming, fashion, music, food, and travel into the basketball experience.
“NBA 2K has engaged a new generation of basketball fans in an increasingly digital world,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
“We look forward to building upon the record-setting achievements that we have accomplished together,”added Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.
This new phase comes after the suspension of the NBA 2K League, which will undergo an 18-month transformation into a global digital platform integrating esports, celebrity collaborations, and entertainment IP. This shift reflects broader market trends — where pure-play esports models are giving way to content-led, community-driven ecosystems.
The NBA’s partnerships now span across:
- Gaming and esports (NBA 2K, NBA 2K League)
- Content and streaming (NBA Take-Two Media)
- Grassroots and national bodies (G-League, USA Basketball)
It’s a clear statement: basketball isn’t just a sport — it’s a platform.
Scripps and the WNBA: Proof That Accessibility Drives Growth
On the women’s side, the WNBA has extended its broadcast deal with Scripps Sports, with a focus on Friday Night games aired free-to-air on ION, the company’s national broadcast network.
Since launching the WNBA Friday Night Spotlight series in 2023, Scripps has become a key driver of visibility and mainstream penetration for the league. The show now includes:
- 50 live games per season, the most by any single network
- A dedicated weekly studio show, the first of its kind for the WNBA
- 133% YoY growth in viewership, with over 23 million unique viewers in 2024
“The WNBA’s partnership with Scripps has already delivered great results… this new agreement reflects the rising demand for WNBA games,” said Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
This partnership is a masterclass in media strategy:
- It bypasses paywalls and cable bundles.
- It builds routine fan behavior (every Friday night).
- It elevates the WNBA brand through consistent, high-visibility programming.
Strategic Takeaways for Sports Stakeholders
At 365247 Consultancy, we believe these two moves — NBA x Take-Two and WNBA x Scripps — offer an instructive playbook for forward-thinking sports organizations:
- Gaming is no longer a licensing deal. It’s a core commercial pillar with its own universe of products, stories, and influencers.
- Broadcast doesn’t need to be exclusive to be powerful. Mass visibility is a valid path to long-term monetization.
- Create new brands inside your sport. NBA Take-Two Media is a standalone brand with distinct storytelling power.
- Think multiplatform, not just multichannel. Audiences today consume content through gaming, socials, OTT, and linear. The NBA is targeting all simultaneously.
As basketball becomes both a sport and a screen-first lifestyle product, these partnerships are not just media renewals — they’re strategic realignments for the next decade of fandom.
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IMAGE: AP
