Earlier this week, Fox Sports Radio host Dan Patrick announced Charles Barkley is preparing to leave Turner for the right offer from LIV Golf, but now we have the quotes directly from the source himself.
Barkley recently joined Drew Stoltz and Gary McCord on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio to explain why he was willing to take a meeting with LIV Golf and what it could mean in terms of his relationship with Turner Sports.
“When you look at some of the numbers these guys are getting and the numbers that they’re throwing around, I would be foolish not to take the meeting,” Barkley told Stoltz and McCord.
According to Barkley, the meeting is occurring this week in Atlanta with World Golf Hall-of-Famer and current LIV CEO Greg Norman. Despite being eager to take the meeting, Barkley said he doesn’t know if Turner will let him go to LIV and he also acknowledged his corporate sponsorship partners are already calling his agent with concern about his potential role with the Saudi-backed tour.
“I have no idea how TNT is going to respond,” Barkley added of the meeting. “I don’t even know if they’ll let me do it. I might have to resign from TNT.”
“Some type of broadcasting would be fun,” Barkley told SiriusXM about potentially working with LIV Golf. “But if I’m gonna have to lose TNT and lose my sponsors, it will have to be something crazy numbers-wise. I’m taking this meeting, I got no idea what Greg’s gonna say to me, but if I’m going to lose TNT and my commercials, it will have to be a ridiculous number for me to move on.”
Barkley has three years left on his contract with Turner and he recently made it clear that he doesn’t have plans on continuing to be a broadcaster beyond his current deal. Barkley has also expressed a desire to make lots and lots and lots of money, even joking that he would be willing to “kill a relative” for $200 million.
While no one believes Barkley would actually kill a relative for money, it’s clear that his services as a sports analyst can be bought by LIV Golf, regardless of the fact that they’re funded by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, a country that commits shameful human rights violations.
In recent years, Barkley has watched lesser basketball players sign contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the NBA and he’s watched lesser experienced analysts sign contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the NFL. Barkley’s seeking his own big payday and he doesn’t seem to care where the money is coming from.
Is it possible that LIV might offer Barkley a deal that doubles his current money while also buying him out of his Turner contract? Yes, their pockets are certainly deep enough to do that and they’re desperate to add notable media personalities to their brand. Is it also possible that Barkley could be using LIV as leverage to get more money out of Turner? Of course.
As Barkley admitted, he doesn’t know what LIV is willing to offer or looking to have him do, but he’s clearly interested in what they can give him financially. LIV has a lot of money to spend, and it doesn’t seem like either party will let Inside the NBA stand in the way of a mutually amicable deal.
[SiriusXM]
