Post Event Analysis - NBA Finals 2026

Post Event Analysis - NBA Finals 2026

Summary

An analysis of the recent 2026 NBA Finals, including a look at its sponsorship portfolio, broadcasters, attendance and ticketing.

Broadcasters: NBA agreed an 11-year-arrangement as of the 2025/26 season with Disney; ABC/ESPN (under Disney) gets rights to vast number of games and exclusive rights to the NBA Finals in the US; Amazon has exclusive rights in select countries outside US.

Viewership: 2026 NBA Finals averaged 20.6 million viewers across the five games (more than double last year’s series) and making it the most watched Finals series since 1998; Game 5 was watched by an average of 24.5 million.

Sponsorship: 2025/26 NBA season, including the Finals, sponsored by 73 brands; most valuable deal being with 2K Sports ($157.14 million annually).

Prize Money: 2025/26 season’s total playoff pool worth $35,740,000; for the winners, $9,078,000 while for the runners-up, $3,921,000.

Ticket Prices: Prices for tickets for the NBA Finals 2026 (on the secondary market) sat at an average of $2,572, a significant increase compared to previous years’ averages.

Attendance: Games 1 through to 4 of the NBA Finals 2026 saw fans of each team buy the majority of seats for their home games; for game five, the Knicks fans outbought the Spurs fans, despite the game being in San Antonio.

Scope

• This report provides an overview of the recent 2026 NBA Finals, including a look at its sponsorship portfolio, broadcasters, attendance and ticketing.

Reasons to Buy

• For those wanting an in-depth analysis of the 2026 NBA Finals, in the sense of both business and popularity.