Charles Barkley painted an ugly picture Thursday as the future of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” looks increasingly bleak as NBC is reportedly nearing a new rights deal with the league.
During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” the 61-year-old NBA great said that if the deal goes through, next season’s “Inside the NBA” will include Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny. – Smith lamented that it would be his last season and that network executives “ruined this thing.”
“Morale is terrible. Plain and simple. I feel really bad for the people I work with, Dan. These guys have families and I feel really bad for them right now. You know. Like, the people I work with have obviously messed this up, so I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Barclay said.
“It doesn’t feel good, especially when it was announced yesterday that they were buying college football. I’m not going to lie. I thought, damn, I could have bought the NBA with that money. [rights]” Berkeley continued. TNT Sports’ new five-year contract Compete with ESPN for the rights to broadcast the College Football Playoff.
When Patrick approached him about having the “Inside the NBA” crew produce the show and sell it to networks, Barkley said he had been in discussions with them about a deal with his production company, Fine Line Productions.
Sports Business Journal recently reported. Mr Johnson will remain with Mr Turner regardless of what happens with his rights.
“Like I said, we’re just sitting there waiting to figure out what they’re going to do,” Barkley said of the current situation.
“My favorite wines are Inglenook and Opus. The clowns I work with have turned us into Ripple, Boons Farm, and Thunderbird. We won best studio show. It’s so funny . [Sports Emmy for] It was the best studio show ever, but these idiots turned us from Inglenook and Opus to shitty Boone Farm and Ripple. It’s crazy. ”
Barkley’s comments came the next day. Sports Business Journal reported The NBA said it has “definite agreements in place” with Amazon, Disney (home of ESPN) and NBC for gaming rights.
According to SBJ, the Proposal “B” package NBC is approaching is “believed to be worth $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion per year,” the package currently held by TNT.
Once the deal with NBC is finalized, the NBA will reportedly present the deal to Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT, to see if it is “matchable in terms of ‘gross value.'”
With legal action likely “over the definition of a game,” SBJ responded, “The league has stated that a game is not dollar for dollar, but specifically that a game includes equal advertising revenue, broadcast time, etc.”
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the network, which acquired the NBA rights for $1.2 billion a decade ago, “believed it would only have to pay $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion to maintain the ‘B’ package” and “refused to double” the rights, offering $2.4 billion,” a source told SBJ.
Barkley also suggested that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was likely not thrilled with Zaslav’s past comments that Warner Bros. “doesn’t need to have the NBA.”
“It sucks right now because he doesn’t need it, but the rest of us, myself, Kenny, Shaq, Ernie and the guys who work there, need it,” Barkley said.
Barkley has been part of “Inside the NBA” since 2000.
