The Hungry Jack’s National Basketball League (NBL) and Nine will join forces to become the home of free hoops from 2026, in a transformative partnership that brings the pre-eminent Australian men’s professional basketball league onto the current No.1 ranked network in the nation.
The two-year agreement will see two free-to-air NBL games available every week across the 9Network, including Finals games, in a win for Aussie basketball fans.
A selection of marquee games will be broadcast on Channel 9, delivering premium live basketball to the widest possible audience.
The partnership builds on the NBL’s record-breaking growth across attendance, digital engagement and free-to-air audiences, further strengthening its position as Australia’s fastest growing sporting league.
Nine’s NBL coverage will sit alongside the WNBL, where top level Australian basketball joins the 9Network’s runway to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where the Boomers and Opals will take on the world once again.
Broadcast Highlights for the 2026/27 Season:
- Two Marquee Games per week: Saturday Night, live on the 9Network and 9Now.
- NBL Finals Series: Watch games live.
- NBL Overtime: Weekly NBL show delivering analysis, highlights and exclusive access.
- 9Now Integration: A dedicated NBL hub featuring highlights, classic games, and catch-up content.
- Wide World of Sports Coverage: Comprehensive news and editorial support across Nine’s digital and sports broadcast platforms.
Nine’s Director of Sport Brent Williams, said: “The NBL is without a doubt one of Australia’s most engaging and fastest growing sports competitions. The standard of the game has never been higher, passion from the fans has never been stronger and an innovative broadcast approach from all stakeholders makes this a perfect addition to Nine’s suite of sport assets. We are thrilled to be entering this partnership and excited about the opportunities that will come from having NBL content on Nine’s platforms.
NBL Group CEO David Stevenson, said: “This is a significant moment for the NBL and for basketball fans right across Australia. Following a record-breaking season, this partnership with Nine is about building on that momentum and making our game more accessible than ever before.
“Having two games broadcasted live every week, is a major win for fans and a powerful platform to continue growing the game.
“We’re incredibly excited to partner with Nine, whose scale and storytelling capability will help bring the energy of the NBL to more homes, create new fans, and elevate the visibility of our clubs and players.
“We also want to sincerely thank Network 10 for their outstanding partnership and commitment to the NBL over recent seasons. Their support has played a pivotal role in driving the league’s biggest ever growth across attendance, digital engagement and free-to-air audiences.”
The NBL’s 2026/2027 Season schedule, including specific match-ups and broadcast times, will be released later this year.
Didn’t 10 also have 2 games? 1 on 10 & 1 on 10Drama
This will be the fourth time Nine broadcasts the NBL (and for the first time since the 2018-19 season).
The new addition is the NBL Overtime weekly show and the NBL hub on 9Now.
It will be interesting to see how Nine juggles the NBL games alongside its existing WNBL and tennis coverage in January next year.
It’s easy Tennis stays on 9Gem and Nine and NBL stays on 9GO
9GO! is also expected to have some live tennis on Saturday nights in January. So where will the NBL go then?
Last season the WNBL games broadcast on 9Go were early Sunday afternoons, so that’s no concern.
As for the tennis, if we go off of this year’s scheduling, there was only one Saturday where they had tennis on 9Go during primetime (the Brisbane International). The United Cup went to 9Gem from about 5-7pm, so Brisbane could easily move to 9Gem afterwards and allow for the NBL to be on 9Go.
So Nine now has:
- NBL
- WNBL
- Super Netball
- NRL
- Olympics
- Swimming
- Tennis grand slams
- Rugby Union
- Premier League
- UEFA
- Melbourne Cup
Wow. You have to wonder where the budget lies
Half of those are relatively cheap.
Not to mention rugby union, the Premier League, UEFA cup competitions, the Melbourne Cup Carnival and anything else we’ve left off.
The way they’re going, it’s not a question of if but when the expenditure elastic band Nine are stretching to its limits will snap…
Where does Nine have all this money for all these sports? It seems they’re taking their mantle of Wide World of Sports a bit too seriously. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t retain the NRL at this rate.
Paying peanuts for two simulcast NBL games a week isn’t going to derail a pitch for a marquee sport like NRL.
The point is the cumulative effect of the company’s expenditure on sports rights rather than the impact of any single acquisition.
You seem to be forgetting the other half of the ledger: revenue.
I get that mate, but I think that point is being seriously overegged. Sports rights are expensive but so is anything, they’ve just parted ways with radio and are focusing on their core business - visual entertainment. Sports is clearly one of their main tenets.
It’s interesting these arguments never seem to apply when talking about content deals for US programming, news coverage etc.
I wonder if they’ll keep having the NBL produce it themselves and simply have Nine air it.
I would imagine so given ESPN still have their part of the deal.
If that’s the case, then it’d still be fairly cheap for Nine - all out sourced.
Bingo.