Fans can purchase 4th quarter NBA games with League Pass
The NBA and Turner Broadcasting announced on Thursday that fans can, for the first time, purchase a portion of an in-progress game to watch.
Fans will be able to purchase the remainder of any out-of-market game on League Pass once the buzzer sounds to end the third quarter. The price initially will be $1.99 whether the fan buys it at the start of the quarter or to watch the last 30 seconds.
“It’s a big moment, but it’s also a small first step,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN on Thursday. “There are limitations in the technology right now, but we’re working as quickly as possible so that, at some point in the near future, fans can choose to buy any part of any game.”
By December, the league plans to give fans the option of buying viewing rights by the start of each quarter for a yet-to-be-disclosed price.
“We imagine a situation where a fan has dinner at 8 o’clock and only has 30 minutes and can choose to buy a half-hour of a game,” Silver said.
The league also plans on eventually selling packages of 10 minutes of real-time game action.
The price for a full game, through either Turner’s B/R Live, on NBA.com or on the NBA app, still costs $6.99.
Not only will fans want to potentially purchase pieces of games; so too might gamblers, Silver acknowledged. For example, a bettor who has money on the first half of a game may only be interested in watching that span.
While prices will initially be uniform across all games based on when a game is purchased, Silver said the league hasn’t ruled out dynamically pricing games based on the matchup “just like our teams do with their tickets.”
The larger NBA League Pass options include the whole season of games for $200 and an in-arena add-on for another $50. Fans can also buy League Pass for a specific team for $120 or by the month for $18.
