During an appearance on the famous TNT show "Inside the NBA", analyst Charles Barkley decided to crack a joke about the ongoing NBA media rights deal. This is something that has been going on since it was announced that TNT would likely be losing the rights to broadcast NBA games after this season.
Barkley has never been one to shy away from controversy for comedic output so even he was able to find some humor in everything going on. While on the air, Barkley and co-host Kenny Smith made it known that they would be leaving the studio by 1 a.m. ET.
"It's 12:29 [a.m.]," Barkley said.
"Oh, we outta here by one," Smith added.
"We walking out of here at one o'clock," Barkley said.
"If you don't walk with me..." Smith added.
"I've got you, brother," Barkley said with a smile and a fist bump to Smith. "What're they gonna do? Fire us?" Barkley asked.
The NBA reportedly agreed on a new lucrative broadcast media rights deal that is set to tip off at the start of the 2025-26 season. This new agreement will see the league split games between ABC/ESPN, NBC, and Amazon.
The new rights deal is expected to be for 11 years and worth $76 million. The success of TNT and this show will be missed but it seems that Barkley wanted to have some fun before it ended.
Barkley has been critical in the past of the NBA rights deal, saying that the league doesn't care about the fans.
"Well, I think that you got greedy players and greedy owners,'' Barkley said today. "They don't really care about anything but how to make the most money possible. We should never put money above the regular fan. Everybody can't afford streaming. There's nothing wrong with streaming, but when you start just going to the highest bidder and you're not on regular television, I think you do a disservice to the fan. But in fairness, the players want to make as much money as possible. The owners want to make as much money as possible. But ... the fan's always the most important thing. No matter how much money you make, if the people are not watching, it's a lose-lose proposition.''
"Inside the NBA" has been a classic staple of basketball coverage for years and many fans are sad to see it go. It will be missed but we should be in for some good entertainment throughout the year.
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