Barkley has been very critical of TNT Sports for losing the NBA broadcasting rights.
Charles Barkley has revealed that he left at least $100 million on the table by staying with TNT Sports, home of the popular Inside the NBA show.
During an appearance on The Dan LeBatard Show, Barkley explained what led to him returning to TNT as an on-air sports personality, a role he's played for over 25 years. According to Barkley, several networks sent him lucrative deals, but none caught his eye as he was more concerned about his "people" at TNT Sports retaining their jobs for another year before the rights to NBA broadcasting switched over to Disney, NBC, and Amazon.
"The number one thing for me is my people at Turner get to keep their jobs at least for another year, and that's all I was concerned with," said Barkley before revealing he left a "minimum of $100 million" on the table.
Barkley also said going through the free agency period as a sports broadcaster was a "great feeling" and thanked all the networks that contacted him for a deal. However, the large amount of money thrown at him wasn't enough for him to leave his people at Turner behind.
Charles Barkley says he left $100 million on the table to return to Turner Sports so his people there could keep their jobs for another year
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 13, 2024
(🎥 @LeBatardShow )
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Last week, Barkley confirmed he would honor his 10-year, $210 million contract extension he signed in 2022 and stay with TNT Sports after threatening to leave once the company lost the NBA broadcasting rights.
"I love my TNT Sports family," Barkley said in a statement. "My number 1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible. We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do. 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. This is the only place for me."
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