Amazon is adding more basketball to its portfolio of live sports rights, inking a multi-year global streaming deal with Overtime Elite, the six-team basketball league featuring players aged 16-20.
The deal will see Amazon Prime Video stream 20 live games per season over the next three years, beginning Nov. 4. Prime Video is Overtime Elite’s first global media rights partner.
Prime Video will also stream an unscripted series going behind-the-scenes at the young league beginning next year. Amazon has also made an investment in Overtime Elite in its Series D funding round.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Overtime Elite hosted its inaugural season in 2021-2022. The league aims to provide education and training to its athletes to “prepare them for college and professional basketball,” the league says.
While Overtime Elite isn’t the NBA (the league is expected to sell a streaming rights deal when its current deals come up in 2025), it is yet another significant investment in live sports from the tech giant, which already has deals with the NFL for Thursday Night Football, the WNBA, the New York Yankees and other global rights partners.
“This collaboration with Prime Video is an exciting move for Overtime Elite, affording us the opportunity to reach even more sports fans.” said Dan Porter, Overtime co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “Prime Video has separated themselves as the premier live-sports streaming service, and we are thrilled to showcase Overtime Elite and our fan-first approach in front of Amazon’s global audience.”
“Like Overtime, we hold a mutual commitment to serving the next generation of sports fans, and we are proud to join Overtime on their journey as the league continues to see tremendous growth,” added Marie Donoghue, vp global sports video at Amazon.