What could possibly be more romantic than Indianapolis in February? Probably anything, which is why this year’s NBA All-Star weekend—normally one of the more raucous boondoggle events on the annual sports executive whistle-stop tour, particularly the recent iteration in Chicago a few years back—is going to be all about business. Most of the shop talk in the forthcoming days will revolve around the league’s upcoming national rights deal and what Adam Silver might do.
But while executives from all the interested media companies will be in Indianapolis this weekend, I anticipate that there will be little actual movement on this front. The NBA, of course, is talking with all comers, but it hasn’t even entered its exclusive negotiating window with current partners ESPN and WBD, which starts next month and runs through April 22.
