SportsEngine Play, the streaming arm of NBC’s SportsEngine youth sports business, has agreed to a five-year extension with NXTPRO Sports’ Puma NXT and Puma Pro16 youth basketball properties. Under the deal, SportsEngine Play will carry live coverage of more than 10,000 elite youth-level games in 2025. In a new wrinkle, Peacock will also stream ten fully produced games this year.
SportsEngine VP/Video Operations Nick Busto said the elite-level basketball circuits have been a valuable property through SportsEngine Play’s early years.
“They were our first large-scale rights partner when we originally partnered with them two years ago,” Busto said. “They’ve grown probably over 200% a year for each of the past three years and have continued to show explosive growth. It’s a great partnership in that we’ve been able to grow and learn alongside each other.”
Busto has overseen streaming efforts since NBC Sports Next acquired his Rapid Replay streaming business in 2022. SportsEngine Play launched the following year.
Busto declined to comment on financial details of the NXTPRO agreement, but said it includes rights fee and revenue share components, with incentives related to hosting events in facilities where SportsEngine has already installed cameras.
Those automated, AI-powered cameras were deployed in partnership with Pixellot, which was recently nominated for best collaboration at this year’s Sports Business Awards: Tech. SportsEngine typically installs cameras on five-year deals. The company serves more than 10,000 facilities, including Atlanta-area LakePoint Sports and the Arizona Athletic Grounds outside Phoenix.
