Listen to Charles Barkley join The Dan Patrick Show to discuss the recent news of TNT losing their licensing rights to the NBA following this upcoming season, as Barkley opens up about the devastating impending loss of one of the greatest studio shows in the history of television, ‘Inside the NBA.’
Dan Patrick: “I can feel the hurt in your voice. How are you feeling now?”
Charles Barkley: “I just feel sadness for the people I work with. A lot of great people are going to lose their job. I’ve been with these guys for 24 years. You’ve seen them have kids, you see them graduate high school, you see the graduate college; so it’s just a sad day for everybody at TNT. I just feel sadness. I’m not worried about me, Shaq, and Kenny, but I’m really concerned about people behind the scenes. What’s really awkward about it is we’ve got one more year, so these guys have to be like ‘Wait a minute, I know I’m going to get fired in a year, what do I do? Do I look for other opportunities that might dry up in a year?’... So that’s what really sucks for people behind the scenes.”
DP: “How did we get to this point?”
Barkley: “Money. The money has just gotten so astronomical, and the owners need the money to pay these players. The fans are the big losers. They need this money to pay the players. You know how old I am? I remember the first time an NBA player made a million dollars. We were running around the locker room high fiving each other. Now a million dollars is per diem!”
DP: “Your boss at TNT probably didn’t help the cause when he said ‘we don’t need the NBA’, so I wonder what the priority was with the NBA. Like we want it, but we want it at a certain price?”
Barkley: “There’s been a lot of talk about that. Did it have something to do with it – not really, because we did say we would match. But they didn’t give us an opportunity. What I really think happened was; because they brought in another partner. This was a last-ditch cash-grab by the NBA and the players. That’s why I think they signed an 11-year deal. It was like ‘Hey, let’s get as much money as we possibly can right now. This is going to be our last bite of the apple.’ Because TNT, ABC, and ESPN – they're not going to pay more money going forward. That’s why I think they’re like ‘you know what, let’s get in bed with the streaming because they’ll be the only people who can afford us in 11 years.’ That’s just my honest opinion.”
DP: “What are you going to do when this upcoming season is over?”
Barkley: “My intention right now is to retire. Dan, I've never said this before and I'll share it with you because you know I got a lot of love for you. So my deal -- there's been a lot of numbers thrown around about my deal, which I always find fascinating, but I've never told people exactly what my deal was. So my deal is 10 years, $210 million. Next year will be year three. Turner has to come to me today or next week and say ‘hey, we screwed up, will you take a pay cut??’ So they’re either going to have to guarantee the whole 10 years, 210, or they’re going to have to ask me to take a pay cut. Which under no circumstances am I taking a pay cut. Zero chances of me taking a pay cut. I'm gonna politely decline taking a pay cut because TNT's been great to me, and they gonna have to say ‘we're going to guarantee the whole 210 or Charles Wade Barkley is going to be a free agent after next year.’ So it's going to be a very interesting next few days, but that's the way I structured my contract. They wanted me and I was like ‘wait, if y'all lose the NBA, why should I get screwed??’ They were like ‘well, let's come to some type of agreement We’ll make you an offer.’ I said ‘that's fine, I'm gonna turn it down because I'm not taking no pay cut because y'all screwed up’, and so that's where we're at, Dan. I’m going to be a free agent next summer. I love TNT so much and I don’t know if I want to go to another network. I’ll never say never, but right now my intention is to stay and go out with a bang. I want to say to all the fans out there – man, you guys have been great. We don’t wanna go, but we’re going.”
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