In the first year of its new media rights deal with ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, the NBA is projecting a total of $14.3 billion in overall gross revenue for the 2025/26 season, according to [Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico](https://www.sportico.com/leagues/basketball/2025/nba-revenue-projected-2025-26-season-1234876505/).
That would represent a 12% increase on last season’s $12.75 billion in league-wide revenue, Badenhausen writes, adding that the league shared the projection with team owners in September.
The $14.3 billion projection takes into account all of the revenue generated by the league and its teams, with the exception of the money teams make from non-NBA events at the arenas they own and operate, Badenhausen explains. While many revenue streams factor into the total, the $76 billion media deal is a driving factor in the projected increase — each team’s TV revenue will rise from $103MM to $143MM this season, Badenhausen says, with that number increasing by 7% annually going forward.
Basketball-related income, which represents a portion of the league’s total revenue, is the figure used to the NBA’s salary cap from year to year. Last season, Badenhausen notes, the NBA’s BRI ($10.25 billion) came in lower than anticipated, having been negatively impacted by a turbulent local media landscape and the fact that multiple small-market teams made deep postseason runs, which reduced overall gate receipts for the playoffs. As a result, players [had to return roughly $484MM](https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/07/nba-players-lose-484mm-from-2024-25-salaries.html) to teams to meet the 51/49 revenue split between players and owners.
However, the new media rights deal should help ensure a larger BRI figure in 2025/26, which bodes well for players retaining their full salaries (or even receiving supplemental checks) and for the growth of the salary cap going forward.