However Charles Barkley was clever sufficient to demand an out clause in his final contract negotiation, which permits him to turn out to be a TV free agent if TNT loses NBA rights. With TNT prone to take the NBA to court docket, the community’s not out of the sport but. Now, odds are the NBA shall be on Prime, not TNT, beginning with the 2025–2026 season. As ‘Tuned In’ predicted on Might 2, that might immediately ship Sir Charles’s star into the stratosphere. The Chuckster may command $20 million-plus provides from the NBA’s new trio of rights companions: newcomer Prime; incumbent ABC/ESPN; and former broadcast associate NBC, which held the rights in the course of the Michael Jordan golden period from 1990 to 2002. ESPN is already eying Barkley and all the solid of Contained in the NBA, say my sources. Ditto for Prime. After the NBA and Prime formally introduced the deal, Entrance Workplace Sports activities spoke one-on-one with Jay Marine, world head of sports activities for Prime Video. Marine spoke rigorously about his curiosity in Barkley and the remainder of the Contained in the NBA solid. However he professed his sturdy admiration for Barkley and the present, noting it impressed Prime’s personal Thursday Night time Soccer wraparound programming with host Charissa Thompson. -via Entrance Workplace Sports activities / July 26, 2024
