The future of NBA on TNT Sports is in question due to the ongoing media rights deal with several networks. The move subsequently raises concern for the league centered show, especially the Emmy award winning studio show, “Inside the NBA”.
Hall of Famer icon, Barkley appeared on ESPN Cleveland during which he was asked about the situation and future of the network with whom he has been for a long time.
According to Awful Announcing, Barkley mentioned that when he was asked about his deal with the show, he stated, “I covered my ass to be honest with you. I just signed a 10-year deal two years ago, but one of the things I did was I put an opt-out in a couple years because I wanted to cover my a** when it comes to this situation.”
The analyst also stated that he and his coworkers thought that networks like Apple and Amazon would come forward with various deals and Amazon has already locked in the deal with the league with select packages and Disney is highly anticipated to take the league’s prominent packages as well.
However, TNT Sports could face peril as NBC is looking forward to adding the league’s to its network. However, the analyst has expressed his point by keeping a balanced opinion. He mentioned that he has a clause in his contract that could make him a free agent if the network loses its 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
He further states, “I said, ‘If you guys lose the NBA, I want to make sure I can get out of here.’ So I am actually in a really great position. We knew it was going to be Amazon and Apple, but we didn’t know NBC was going to come out of the woodwork. But the one thing I particularly did in my contract, I put an opt-out clause in there. Listen, I love TNT, they’ve been great to me… I wanted to make sure that if we lost the NBA in two years, I could be a free agent.”
The NBC network has reportedly offered $2.5 billion annually to the league for its media rights and the TNT Sports rights deal will expire after the 2024-25 NBA season.
