Even though there hasn’t been an official announcement yet, the word on the street is that NBC Universal is the winner of NBA broadcast rights negotiations. However, not everyone thinks this will have a positive outcome, as sports expert Colin Cowherd actually believes it will be a bad deal for NBC.
On last week’s episode of The Colin Cowherd Podcast, the long-time commentator dissed the package deal and even predicted it will eventually become a huge loss for the company. “The NBA is going to sign this massive contract. NBA basketball on NBC according to all these reports, NBC’s going to lose a billion dollars a year on it,” he explained. “It’s just not a good deal for NBC.”
“In the NBA, the star plays 40 minutes and has the ball every possession,” Cowherd kept at it. “In basketball, the star is always on the floor, always taking shots. For all the NBA critics … it may not be a good deal for NBC or ESPN or Amazon, but the NBA is always going to get its money.”
Colin Cowherd predicts NBC’s new NBA package will be ‘not a good deal’ https://t.co/ZCYJOBO6Vu pic.twitter.com/1OHZ8UulzE
— Ken Fang — Very Asian (@fangsbites) May 23, 2024
Despite so many suggesting that TNT and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery’s time with the NBA has run out, league commissioner Adam Silver isn’t ready to name a winner just yet. According to him, the media rights still have no owner, as negotiations continue.
“Who knows,” the NBA commissioner told the press as he was asked just before a dinner at the White House. “We’re all still talking. Who knows how it’s gonna work out.”
Silver also said that he knows for a fact that whatever happens in the end, at least two of the show’s stars will continue to cover the league for years to come. “We’re never gonna lose Charles and Kenny,” he assured. “They’re always going to be covering the NBA. . . . I can’t imagine those guys [on ‘Inside the NBA’] won’t be performing and announcing together in the future, and we all love them.”
Despite the commissioner’s claim, Barkley admitted recently that the entire crew is “scared to death” about the future. Chuck revealed that the entire staff is still in the dark, which has created a strange atmosphere around the show during these NBA playoffs.
Charles Barkley Calls TNT Leaders ‘Clowns’ And Even Says He Could Take Over Inside The NBA Production
Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is frustrated over the fact that TNT is on the verge of losing their rights to broadcast the NBA, as there is a possibility that Inside the NBA might also disappear. The last reports suggest that the league is finalizing their new media rights deal with Disney/ESPN, Amazon and NBA.
If things continue down this road, it would leave TNT without basketball actions for the first time in over two decades. Even though parent company Warner Bros. Discovery have the money to match NBC’s package, they seem unlikely to proceed in this direction.
Chuck recently appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and spit out everything he had stored in his mind about this issue. The Hall of Famer sounded off on the TNT leadership that is letting the league walk out the door. “Morale sucks, plain and simple. I just feel so bad for the people I work with, Dan. These people have families and I just really feel bad for them right now.
“These people I work with, they screwed this thing up, clearly, and we don’t have zero idea what’s gonna happen. I don’t feel good. I’m not gonna lie, especially when they came out yesterday and said we bought college football. I was like, well, damn, they could have used that money to buy the NBA,” he said on air.
