It’s no secret that the NBA is heading toward a massive payday as it negotiates a new media rights deal. NBA legend Charles Barkley isn’t happy about one aspect of the league’s potential new deal.
Barkley has worked for TNT, which is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), for over two decades. The 61-year-old announced last month that next season will be his last in the broadcast booth.
Barkley’s retirement is set to coincide with WBD potentially losing its rights to broadcast NBA games by the end of the 2024-25 season. Amazon and NBCUniversal are both in talks with the league to take over WBD’s share of games.
On Thursday, Barkley was at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Lake Tahoe, Calif. in preparation for the American Century Celebrity golf tournament this weekend. While at the course, Barkley was interviewed by CNBC about the NBA’s potential move from WBD to a different media giant.
Barkley expressed his disdain for one byproduct likely to come from the NBA partnering with either Amazon or NBCUniversal: a move to streaming. Barkley stated that broadcasting some of the NBA’s marquee games on streaming platforms would make the league more inaccessible for fans who can’t afford to add more streaming services to their daily expenses.
“Well, I think that you got greedy players and greedy owners,” Barkley said, via Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal (SBJ).
“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.”
WBD also has its own streaming platform in “Max,” which the company has reportedly tried to leverage in the negotiations. However, the NBA reportedly does not see “Max” as comparable to “Amazon Prime” in terms of overall reach, per SBJ.
Barkley emphasized in his interview that fans should always be “the most important thing” for the NBA.
