ESPN CEO on Charles Barkley: ‘I’d be lying if I said we weren’t interested’
Charles Barkley could be the most sought-after free agent to hit the market next year, if he does.
As Warner Bros. Discovery wrestles with the NBA in court, hoping to win back a share of the league’s media rights through 2025, a line of suitors has already formed for Barkley, the company’s biggest sports star.
ESPN’s chief content officer, Burke Magnus, said Tuesday that he would be interested in bringing Barkley to the network if he were available. Asked at a Front Office Sports conference in New York whether he could see a world with Barkley at ESPN, Magnus said he could.
“Yes,” Magnus said at the “Tuned In” conference. “That would be a perfect world. … I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested in Charles. The whole industry is interested.”
NBC chairman Mark Lazerus said he would also be interested in Barkley. NBC will broadcast the NBA next season.
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Whether Barkley would be interested in ESPN or NBC is another question. The Basketball Hall of Famer, who has been part of TNT’s iconic studio show “Inside the NBA” since 2000, said in August that he would remain with TNT Sports even after it lost the NBA. Barkley is in the third year of a 10-year, $210 million contract.
“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley, 61, said in a statement in August. “My #1 priority is and always will be our people and keeping everyone together as long as possible.
“We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do,” his statement continued. “I look forward to continuing to work with them on the shows we have now and the new ones we develop together in the future. This is the only place for me.”
In July, Disney, NBC and Amazon won the bidding rights to the NBA’s next media deal, which begins in the 2025-26 season and lasts for 11 years. The agreements with the three companies are worth a total of $77 billion. WBD did not get a share of the rights and sued the NBA to enforce what it says are corresponding rights to the current contract.
The lawsuit is currently in court in New York State and is scheduled to go to trial in April.
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