With or without The Association, TNT Sports has big plans for Charles Barkley’s iconic Inside the NBA.
As the network heads into possibly its last season as an NBA rights holder, TNT is looking to “reimagine the entire content experience” of the award-winning show, sources familiar with the strategy tell Front Office Sports.
TNT has zero plans to sell Inside the NBA to incoming NBA rights partners like Amazon Prime Video or NBC Sports, said sources. Instead, network executives are whiteboarding multiple ways they can leverage the talents of Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson, while maintaining the show’s unique on-air chemistry and humor.
During an analyst call Wednesday, TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery remained positive it can retain its 40-year rights relationship with the NBA. Or even squeeze out a smaller, face-saving, fourth game package. But even if WBD loses its long-shot lawsuit against the NBA, Inside the NBA, winner of 15 Emmy Awards, will live on.
One option would be for TNT to license a highlights package from the NBA. It wouldn’t be nearly as valuable as a live-game package, of course. But media companies license highlights from sports leagues all the time. Barkley, the five-time Emmy winner, would still be able to chop up NBA games with Shaq & Co., at a fraction of the $1.2 billion WBD pays for rights now, or the $1.8 billion it is hoping to pay in the future. (The obvious question, then, is if it would be worth Barkley’s $20 million–plus salary, in addition to the other talent and production costs, to do a show about a league TNT doesn’t broadcast.)
Another option would be expanding beyond hoops. TNT is exploring a possible new show for Barkley, tentatively titled Inside Sports, according to The Wall Street Journal. TNT has rights to college football, MLB, and the NHL, among other properties. The Inside crew has been an integral part of the joint coverage of the NCAA March Madness tournament between TNT and CBS for years. Barkley, an avid golfer, has also starred on TNT’s made-for-TV golf events. But there’s no guarantee on TV. Barkley’s limited-run CNN series with Gayle King, King Charles, lasted only six months.
Barkley signed a 10-year, $210 million contract extension with TNT in 2022. Earlier this week, he announced he was changing his mind about retiring from TV after the coming NBA season, declaring TNT is the “only place for me.” In his statement, Barkley also referenced developing new programs for TNT, saying: “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have—and new ones we develop together in the future.”
During an appearance with Dan Patrick on Thursday, Barkley explained how it all went down with his bosses. “[TNT] flew to Philly last week. I said, ‘What’s the deal? And they said, ‘We’re gonna keep doing the show.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And they’re like, ‘We’re gonna keep doing the show.’” But his bosses didn’t give him any “concrete” proposals, Barkley added, because they don’t have any yet.
That’s no surprise. TNT is in no rush to figure out the future of Inside, say my sources. It has the entire 2024–2025 NBA season, and beyond, to figure out what’s next. Whatever they do, they want it to be great. The important thing is that Barkley has promised—for now—he won’t flirt with ESPN, NBC, and Prime, which could throw annual deals worth $25 million to $30 million at him.
“I think they’re going to try to figure it out. We won’t have the NBA, so I think they’re gonna try to figure it out,” Barkley told Patrick. “But my number-one concern, Dan, has always been the people at Turner. Even if we do something, a lot of people at Turner are going to keep their jobs.”
Patrick asked Barkley whether TNT planned to create a “nightly” SportsCenter-type show. No, said Barkley. But he volunteered to take a pay cut to save jobs. “We’re not going to work every night. That’s not going to happen.”
But if a cost-cutting WBD, which just suffered a $10 billion quarterly loss, orders TNT to cut staff, who knows how Barkley would react. My guess: not well.
Months ago, it was clear that Barkley’s retirement was a ploy to loyally save the jobs of his colleagues at TNT, many of whom he’s worked with for 25 years. Sir Charles confirmed to Patrick that was exactly his plan all along, saying that saving his colleagues’ jobs was one of the “coolest” things he’s ever done.
And even if Inside appreciably changes from its current format, it would still be better than ESPN’s ever-changing NBA Countdown, which has flipped hosts and casts for years in a vain effort to compete. “ESPN, which I love, they never give anybody a chance to get any chemistry,” Barkley recently said on Paul George’s podcast. “They’re all just kind of throwing stuff at the wall like, ‘Let’s put this group together.’ They’ll do that for like six months to a year and they’re like, ‘It didn’t work.’ Well, you didn’t give it a chance to work.”
Michael McCarthy’s “Tuned In” column is at your fingertips every week with the latest insights and ongoings around sports media. If he hears it, you will, too.
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