With TNT seemingly on the verge of losing its NBA rights, all eyes have shifted to the uncertain future of Inside the NBA.
That includes the star of the longtime studio show, Charles Barkley, who took a blowtorch to his employer during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday.
But in addition to criticizing Warner Bros. Discovery higher-ups — including CEO David Zaslav — for the media conglomerate losing TNT’s most prized property in the NBA, the Hall of Fame power forward also offered a potential solution to keep his storied studio show running.
“I’ve talked to the guys about everybody signing with my production company,” Barkley said. “I would love to do that if [TNT loses the NBA]… we’re just sitting back waiting on these people to figure out what they’re gonna do.”
The Mound Round of Rebound was talking Pat McAfee’s language.
On Thursday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the former All-Pro punter addressed Inside the NBA‘s uncertain future at TNT and Barkley’s comments on The Dan Patrick Show. In doing so, McAfee encouraged Barkley to follow through on taking the show under his production company to lease it elsewhere — much in the same way that he now leases his show to ESPN.
“That is the move, boys. That is the move,” McAfee said. “We need them to figure that out. We need that show to stick together for the good of sports media.”
McAfee went on to note the news that TNT Sports will be licensing College Football Playoff games from ESPN as an encouraging sign regarding the two networks’ business dealings, which he believes could potentially impact potential negotiations regarding Inside the NBA.
“I like that there’s a business door being opened between ESPN and TNT,” McAfee said. “It feels like a lot of moving pieces. We’re all hoping that it survives.”
Charles Barkley said that morale is terrible at TNT and he doesn’t know how they got to this point..
It sounds like he’s trying to keep the Inside the NBA crew together #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/22ft36PyO8
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 23, 2024
As McAfee’s tenure at ESPN has shown, there’s certainly no shortage of value in owning your own product and licensing it elsewhere. And while not many sports media entities have the same leverage to negotiate such a deal, Inside the NBA is certainly one of them.
