After the NBA signed a new rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon Prime, Charles Barkley could have gone there, also — but he opted to stay home.
Barkley has been an NBA analyst on TNT since 2000, and once it started to look like TNT would no longer broadcast the league’s games, Barkley announced that the upcoming season would be his final one.
He backtracked later on, eventually stating that he would be with the network as long as the NBA would be on it, and he’d work with TNT leadership to develop new shows and additional sports content.
But, as far as the network’s relationship with the NBA is concerned, TNT feels they have not been able to fairly match the new rights deal, thus leading to a lawsuit, and the likely ending of Barkley’s broadcasting work in the NBA.
Barkley, though, has insisted that he would not leave for another network, and this week, he revealed he turned down nine figures to go elsewhere.
The Hall of Famer said on “The Dan LeBatard Show” he turned down “a minimum of $100 million” in order to stay at TNT.
Barkley said the experience was “really humbling and cool.”
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“It was a great feeling, and I wanna thank all those networks for reaching out to me…” he said. “But even though they were throwing crazy numbers — I was like, ‘Damn!’ — but as long as I got my people safe at TNT, I feel really good.”
Last month, the NBA rejected a bid from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), TNT’s parent company, to exercise its right to match an offer from Amazon for a part of the league’s 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal. Shortly after the announcement, WBD filed a lawsuit under seal in New York County Supreme Court.
Ernie Johnson serves as the moderator on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” while Barkley, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and two-time NBA champion Kenny “The Jet” Smith provide analysis. Barkley’s long-term commitment will see him “exclusively contribute to TNT Sports for many years to come,” per the news release.
TNT did recently land the rights to some College Football Playoff games, and the network will also serve as the U.S. broadcasting home for the French Open tennis tournament beginning in 2025. The pivot to tennis and college football could be viewed as a way for the network to try and fill the hole that would be left behind from the loss of the NBA.
Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.
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