Warner Bros. Discovery highlighted a broader, more diverse set of sports media rights at its first Upfront presentation since losing the NBA.
I was glued to my TV past midnight ET Tuesday as the Oklahoma City Thunder completed a thrilling comeback against the Denver Nuggets, one of the most exciting games of the 2025 NBA Playoffs to date. As superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nailed the dagger 3-pointer with 48 seconds left, I couldn’t stop wondering how TNT and Warner Bros. Discovery could recover from losing the NBA after a revolutionary relationship spanning four fruitful decades.
WBD tried answering this dilemma the next morning at its annual Upfront at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, claiming a reach of 141 million monthly sports fans and news consumers. In a brief speech that clocked in at just under three minutes at a presentation that lasted just under two hours, TNT Sports Chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser touted a more dynamic and diverse transformed sports portfolio after WBD bought up a bunch of sports properties’ media rights with a good chunk of the money it will no longer have to pay the NBA. Broadcaster Adam Lefkoe, who shepherded the rest of the sports presentation after Silberwasser’s remarks, pointed out that TNT Sports was the only network with rights to both men’s March Madness and the College Football Playoff.
Stay Ahead of the Game, Get Our Newsletters
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
Tennis’ French Open, this summer’s men’s Club World Cup soccer tournament, the CFP quarterfinals, Unrivaled, and Big East men’s and women’s basketball were all added since TNT and the NBA’s divorce was made official last summer, though not without a fight. WBD sued the NBA over a matching rights clause in the previous media rights contract, arguing that it legally deserved the right to win the contract Amazon ultimately received for the next 11 years. The parties ultimately settled, giving WBD foreign and highlight rights, making it clear that the company’s sports pivot was not as seamless as it portrayed on Wednesday at MSG.
The NBA is the longest-running show in TNT history, dating back to 1989. The league and the network grew exponentially together, helping both companies become globally ubiquitous brands. Inside the NBA became the most beloved and successful studio show in sports history, with the quartet of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal all electing to remain at the network despite losing the rights. But WBD’s presentation made no mention of the show or Barkley, with only Shaq appearing at the Upfront to help introduce a trailer for Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming new Superman remake.
Inside will still play a role in the new era at TNT Sports, though mainly as IP trade bait. In November, WBD announced that Johnson, Smith, Barkley, and O’Neal will make appearances during ESPN and ABC‘s NBA coverage moving forward — still produced by TNT from its Atlanta studios — in exchange for the sublicensed rights to 13 Big 12 football and 15 men’s basketball games per year. Add that to existing properties like MLB, NHL, NASCAR, and U.S. Soccer, and you can see WBD’s vision of more year-round sports offerings across TNT, TBS, TruTV, and HBO Max, the new-old-new again name for its flagship streaming service.
Silberwasser speaks onstage during Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2025 Upfront presentation. (Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery)
While the sports portfolio will be different, Silberwasser emphasized, TNT’s DNA and unique storytelling lens will remain the same as it reaches a wider audience than ever before. Bleacher Report and House of Highlights will be its “always on” home for its younger-skewing audience. Candace Parker was brought out to promote Unrivaled‘s Season 1 success and B/R’s new W sports vertical. Henrik Lundqvist espoused the NHL Playoffs‘ excitement and unpredictability leading into TNT broadcasting this year’s Stanley Cup Final. And Sloane Stephens discussed WBD lending a new voice and a new perspective on tennis with recently retired players to craft stories in a different way, just 11 days before TNT Sports’ first Roland-Garros.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time for TNT Sports,” Lefkoe said in conclusion.
The calendar will be fuller and diverse for TNT Sports moving forward, but most sports fans will still associate TNT with the NBA even after its final broadcast this month. And while WBD tried its best to highlight that it’s moved on in its presentation to brands and fans, it felt weird for the company not to present the next new and exciting season of NBA basketball to come. And as the New York Knicks are one win away from their first conference finals appearance in 25 years, which TNT would get to broadcast, Warner Bros. Discovery’s lead ad executives even ended the Upfront with a call of “let’s go Knicks,” appealing to the New York City-based advertising crowd at the same time it’s selling them its post-NBA future.
Suffice it to say, it will take much more getting used to.
Read More:
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.