Can't wait to see LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers take on Stephen Curry and the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in a rematch of the Finals? How about the Los Angeles Clippers visiting the Dallas Mavericks for the first time since center DeAndre Jordan spurned the Mavs this summer, ditching his verbal agreement with Mark Cuban to re-sign with the Clippers?
Well, if you're not in any of those markets, you can still watch either game this season... without having an NBA League Pass subscription, either.
That's because on Wednesday, July 22, the NBA made good on its promise to offer a la carte games, announcing that it will allow fans to pay $6.99 for any league game next season. This marks the first time that NBA fans will be able to watch any out-of-market game not on national television, without the League Pass.
According to ESPN, fans will be able to watch the game on AT&T, DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner and Cox or via computers, tablets and mobile devices.
The NBA's a la carte, pay-per-view idea was first discussed last month, ironically – or maybe not so ironically – after the NFL was hit with a class-action lawsuit over its Sunday Ticket subscription, which essentially forces fans to buy the package if they want to see out-of-market games that are not on national television.
With the League Pass's $199.99 annual fee and the fact that NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in March that most fans don't want to consume that many games — the option for a pay-per-view game makes total sense. Fans want to see high-quality games such as the Cavs-Warriors, Clippers-Mavs and Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder. Not so much Denver Nuggets-Philadelphia 76ers. (No offense, guys).
The $6.99-per-game price is for U.S. fans only and ESPN is reporting that there aren't any immediate plans to sell fans pieces of games – such as the last couple of minutes – via fans' Facebook or Twitter timelines, as of the time of this writing. However, the mere thought of the option has us excited.
Still, the pay-per-view option is a definite good start. Which games will you purchase?
