John Riordan: Sports media moguls vying for America's lucrative fans of the future

The digital explosion of highlights, packages, online banter and the athletes exploring their own image rights has meant that consumption has fragmented into a highly lucrative mess

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Amazon has made an aggressive move into the sports media market, paying $1bn a year until 2033 for the right to screen the live NFL Thursday night game. Picture: John Locher/AP

The new NBA season tips off next Tuesday evening with a pair of games taking place one after the other on either coast, match-ups selectively chosen to draw in the casual fan to a constantly evolving sports viewing market.

Do I want to take some time to watch or half-watch the decades long rivalry of the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, a clash of pre-season favourites with enough off-season drama to fill an episode of Real Housewives of the Mid-Atlantic?