Charles Barkley, the kingpin of TNT’s long-standing show “Inside the NBA,” didn’t hold back this week about the fear emanating out of the cable network possibly losing rights to the NBA after 35 years.
“We have zero idea what’s going to happen,” Barkley said an interview with “Waddle & Silvy” on ESPN 1000 AM in Chicago earlier this week. “We might lose it. … It is flat-out brutal. Everybody’s scared to death.”
Barkley said this uncertainty has cast a pall over his crew during the NBA playoffs.
TNT, under different ownership over the years, has had a piece of the NBA going back to the 1980s. But the NBA now has leverage and is seeking a massive increase in payments for the rights to its games split among more players, including Amazon, Disney and a third partner, which appears to be either TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery or NBCUniversal.
“It’s 50-50 that we lose our part to NBC,” Barkley said. “Am I concerned? 100%, because as much as we have been partners with the NBA for I think 40 years, you would think if it was close in a bidding war, we would get the benefit of the doubt, but clearly that’s not happening.”
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Even if Warner Bros. Discovery reaches an agreement starting after the 2025-26 season, it would be a lesser package of games than what it has now. And many pundits think NBC has an advantage because it has a broadcast network that WBD lacks. NBC has reportedly offered $2.5 billion a year for at least ten years, more than doubling the current amount WBD is paying. WBD has a right to match NBC’s offer but may have to pay more to keep the games.
All of WBD’s sports operations emanate out of its Techwood campus in Midtown Atlanta including “Inside the NBA.”
The “Inside the NBA” team featuring Erne Johnson, Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal has become legendary must-see TV for NBA diehards for years.
Podcaster, sportswriter, and cultural critic Bill Simmons already thinks NBC has an edge and believes the NBA is just waiting to make an official announcement on the newly signed deal until after the season is over.
“One of the funniest things ever is that we’re all pretending the TV deal wasn’t done like a week-and-a-half ago… I think it’s done,” said Simmons during his podcast this week. “I think Warner already lost it. I don’t know why we’re waiting till after the playoffs. Maybe that’s how they have to do it, but it’s a wrap. NBC’s getting it.”
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