If you’re an NBA fan, you’re familiar with the onslaught of YouTube TV advertising that has come with Google’s service being the presenting sponsor of the NBA Finals. That’s changing this year, though.
As reported by Awful Announcing, YouTube TV is no longer the presenting sponsor of the 2026 NBA Finals. The sponsorship deal with YouTube TV has ended, the NBA confirmed, after having started back in 2018.
YouTube TV was the first-ever presenting sponsor of the NBA Finals, so this is more of a return to the previous status quo than it is a changing of sponsors.
Apparently, these changes are being made to “restore some of the glamour and prestige of the NBA Finals,” the report says, as YouTube TV’s advertising could be overwhelming at times. Interestingly, an NBA tweet from January still showed YouTube TV as a presenting sponsor. On the NBA’s website, the Finals are “Presented by Google” – also seen on the NBA Playoffs as a whole – but the presence has been toned back significantly.
The 2026 NBA Finals started yesterday, June 3, with the New York Knicks facing off against the San Antonio Spurs. The Finals will run as long as June 19 if a Game 7 matchup is needed.
More on YouTube TV:
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- YouTube TV will keep The Weather Channel in new deal
- YouTube TV officially launches fully custom multiview – here’s where it doesn’t work
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