The NBA media rights saga has Turner Broadcasting on the outside looking in — which could leave Charles Barkley and the “Inside The NBA” crew without NBA to cover.
But Barkley can apparently jump ship and become a free agent in the sports media space if Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t keep at least some type of package of NBA rights. The award-winning TV analyst admitted during a guest appearance on ESPN Cleveland that he placed an opt-out in his contract with WBD (WBD) to ensure that he could free agent if another company swooped in to take the NBA rights.
“I wanted to make sure that if we lost the NBA in 2 years, I could be a free agent,” – Charles Barkley on if TNT loses the NBA TV rights.
Charles also talks about the future of ‘Inside the NBA’ pic.twitter.com/hyDIVcUapy
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) May 1, 2024
“I covered my ass to be honest with you,” Barkley said. “I just signed a 10-year deal two years ago, but one of the things I did, I put an opt out after a couple of years cause I wanted to make sure I covered my ass when it comes to this situation if I wanted to go to Amazon cause we thought it was going to be Apple to be honest with you.”
WBD is in jeopardy after it was reported earlier this week that Comcast’s (CMCSA) NBC had made a bid to essentially take the package that Turner is currently holding for the NBA. NBC’s bid is at $2.5 billion, over twice as much as the struggling WBD is paying for the deal that ends after the 2024-25 NBA season.
Related: Warner Bros. Discovery is in trouble after Comcast offers NBA a massive deal
There has been an expectation that there would be a bidding war for the NBA rights for years now, but Barkley admitted that he was thinking Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) would be the ones competing for the rights and not NBC.
“We knew it was going to be Amazon and Apple, but we didn’t know NBA was going to come out the woodwork,” Barkley said. “I love TNT, they’ve been great to me. But if they lose the NBA, I want to make sure I had all my ‘i’s’ dotted and ‘t’s’ crossed.”
However, CNBC reporter Alex Sherman disputed this claim saying that it had been known for a while that NBC would be player in attempting to bring back the NBA to the network that carried most of the league’s top games when Barkley was at his peak in the 1990s.
Love Chuck, but it’s been pretty clear it was going to be NBCU vs WBD for this package for more than a year. pic.twitter.com/CjWO0piIlt
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) May 2, 2024
Amazon has reportedly reached a framework agreement on a package that can bring NBA games onto streaming — though the exact details, including financials or the whether Amazon will get a Conference Finals game — are still unclear.
ESPN has also reportedly already made an unofficial deal with the NBA, one that would keep the top package of the NBA on the Disney-owned (DIS) sports network for $2.6 billion annually. That number is nearly the same as the $2.7 billion annual average that ESPN and WBD are currently paying combined for the package.
Related: What could happen to Charles Barkley, ‘Inside The NBA’ if WBD loses out to other networks
Barkley admitted that he’s very much open to exploring his other options outside of TNT should they not keep the NBA. Those options could include Amazon and NBC, and could even include ESPN who has long wanted to acquire the NBA legend’s studio services despite the fact that Barkley constantly takes shots at ESPN.
Charles Barkley with a message on coaches, players and people who cover basketball.
“For all you punks, idiots and jackasses on other networks, who want to be media and who want all the players to like y’all, do your damn job. The Lakers suck and the Suns suck because of the… pic.twitter.com/jXXBgxHJ5N
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 2, 2024
Paul Pabst of “The Dan Patrick Show” floated the idea that Barkley should try to start his own media network, which would follow the path that many other media members are going down be it JJ Redick, Dan Le Batard, or Colin Cowherd.
If I’m Barkley, I start my own production company.
If TNT loses the NBA, my first act is to sign Shaq/Kenny/Ernie and sell the show…intact…to the highest bidder.
You have a show that is a sure thing for ratings/likeability…never break it up. https://t.co/u4gHd3XE6z
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) May 2, 2024
But former ESPN host Jemele Hill brought up the big elephant in the room that would probably keep Barkley away from starting his own company: retirement.
I don’t see Barkley starting his own outfit. His next big move is … retirement. They had to work pretty hard to convince Barkley to do the NCAA tournament, so I can’t see him wanting the responsibility of having his own production company.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) May 2, 2024
Barkley’s original 10-year deal with Turner was already shaky because the 61-year-old has already spoken about thoughts on retirement, including that there is “no chance” he would actually finish out the entire decade-long contract with Turner.
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