Okay, I know that a Manhattan jury just convicted the former president of the United States on 34 felony counts, but the sports media world continues to scrutinize every new tea leaf in another story of our time: the interminable and increasingly agonizing NBA rights auction. After all, this whole ordeal has been more suspenseful and heavily plotted than an episode of Perry Mason.
First, there was the exclusive renegotiating window, then the handshake deals with Pitaro and Jassy, then the grinfucking Journal leak of the $2.5 billion-per-year NBCU bid, and the ensuing WBD sell-off. More recently, there’s been the matching rights phase and all the attendant Zazology about whether the Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O., with his $39 billion in corporate debt and $50 million in executive comp, should just throw in the towel and make do with some CFP licenses and UFC ambitions.
