The NBA will announce on Thursday that fans can, for the first time, purchase a portion of game to watch.
Fans will be able to purchase any portion of any game on League Pass — out-of-market local games — 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 on giving fans the option of buying 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 who have plans want to potentially purchase pieces of games, so too might gamblers, Silver acknowledged. For example, a bettor wants to see if his first half spread covers.
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 how good they might be “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 a League Pass for a specific team for $120 or by the month for $18.