New NBA Media Deal: 11 years, $77B with Disney (ABC/ESPN), Comcast (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon. ESPN to license Inside the NBA

FakeNews

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If the NBA on TNT comes to an end and Charles Barkley hits the media free agency pool, ESPN might not be his first choice.

With Warner Bros. Discovery appearing on the verge of losing NBA media rights for TNT, it has fans desperately wanting to know where Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith will land next. The Sports lllustrated Media Podcast with host Jimmy Traina was Barkley’s latest stop on his media tour where he continues to speak candidly about WBD executives seemingly botching negotiations with the NBA. During the interview, Barkley spoke about whethere there’s another company he can foresee himself working for.

Regardless of what happens with the league’s media rights negotiations, Inside the NBA will be on TNT next season. But after that NBC, Amazon and ESPN will be leading candidates for his services.

“I would have to look at their packages,” Barkley told Traina. “I don’t know who’s going to have what so I couldn’t even make an educated guess, even hypothetically. There will be two important questions, what do you have and where you gonna do the show from?”

ESPN can already answer those questions. They regularly let people work remotely with Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Kendrick Perkins rarely appearing in studio for First Take. And all signs are pointing to ESPN/ABC retaining the NBA Finals in their next media deal. But while TNT has limited sports programming, the cast of platforms and shows that ESPN boasts is not appealing to Barkley.

“They’re not gonna work me like a dog,” Barkley insisted. “ESPN Radio, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes. I mean, HELL NO! As much as I love ESPN, I just turned 61. The notion that I’m going to be working like a dog into my mid-60s, that’s definitely not going to happen.”

ESPN hired Shannon Sharpe without parading him around on a cast of shows and platforms, it’s possible they could do the same with Barkley. Although it’s hard to imagine Barkley being an ESPN talent and not appearing on First Take with some regularity.

If Barkley becomes a free agent, he should be a pillar for a platform looking to build their NBA coverage. NBC and Amazon will have an easier time selling that to Barkley, while ESPN will just be looking for their latest shiny toy to show off.

[Sports Illustrated Media Podcast]
 

FakeNews

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Maybe a thread should be made for this but here is an Interesting look at viewership over the last 30 years for the ECF. Obviously the Jordan era and beginning of the Heatles era was a ratings and viewership hit.
Of course the league took a hit during the covid, but man the NBA was really struggling in the mid 2000s
nbaecfchart.png
 

Regular_P

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Maybe a thread should be made for this but here is an Interesting look at viewership over the last 30 years for the ECF. Obviously the Jordan era and beginning of the Heatles era was a ratings and viewership hit.
Of course the league took a hit during the covid, but man the NBA was really struggling in the mid 2000s
nbaecfchart.png
That dip also coincided with the NBA leaving NBC. A lot of younger posters probably think us older ones are just waxing poetic and overhyping NBC's presentation but the numbers right here tell the story.

The NBA product was degraded when ESPN took over the primary coverage responsibilities. They do not know how to tell a story, build anticipation or make games feel like events.
 

firemanBk

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Maybe a thread should be made for this but here is an Interesting look at viewership over the last 30 years for the ECF. Obviously the Jordan era and beginning of the Heatles era was a ratings and viewership hit.
Of course the league took a hit during the covid, but man the NBA was really struggling in the mid 2000s
nbaecfchart.png
Since these are ECF ratings, also need to remember Eastern Conference was seen as by far weaker than the Western Conference after Jordan left
The West won the finals 10/13x from 1999-2011
Most of the good teams were in the West, you would regularly see 6-7 50 win teams in the West and only 2-3 in the East.
 

FAH1223

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:russ: Tania Ganguli was getting shoo'd away by Kenny and Ernie

The future of “Inside the NBA” was already a sensitive topic when Charles Barkley stepped into an elevator in Minneapolis after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals late Friday night.

…When Barkley, who had already batted away several attempts by security and public relations officials to prevent him from doing an interview, ushered me into an elevator filled with his co-workers, not everyone was happy.

Kenny Smith, Barkley’s on-screen foil, voiced his irritation. But Barkley, as he has done throughout his decades in the public eye, made clear that he wouldn’t be muzzled.

“Hey, man, I can talk to who I want to,” Barkley said to Smith, using an expletive. Others in the elevator shifted uncomfortably.

“You should do that out there,” Smith said, suggesting the interview be done outside the elevator.

Barkley turned to me: “Don’t worry about him.”

“She should clear it through Turner,” Smith said. “She should do it the right way.”

…Approached for an interview, Johnson pointed me to the public relations team. TNT had declined to arrange interviews with its talent for this article. After the game, Johnson interrupted the interview with Barkley as he left the elevator to castigate me for approaching him without permission from the company.
 

CHICAGO

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Maybe a thread should be made for this but here is an Interesting look at viewership over the last 30 years for the ECF. Obviously the Jordan era and beginning of the Heatles era was a ratings and viewership hit.
Of course the league took a hit during the covid, but man the NBA was really struggling in the mid 2000s
nbaecfchart.png


THE BULLS/ROSE HAD JUST
AS MUCH TO DO WITH THAT 10.4 IN 2011



:devil:
:evil:

 
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