SI

Charles Barkley Calls Out ‘Greedy’ Players, Owners for Not Thinking of Fans

Barkley laments increasing cost to watch games for the regular fan.

Jimmy Traina

“We should never put money above the regular fan,” Barkley said of the NBA's new TV deal, which includes multiple streaming platforms.
“We should never put money above the regular fan,” Barkley said of the NBA's new TV deal, which includes multiple streaming platforms. / CNBC

1. With the NBA finalizing new television deals with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon, Charles Barkley did an interview with CNBC on Thursday in which he lamented the new world of streaming.

With all sports these days carving up their television packages into a slew of slices, fans are paying more money than ever to be able to watch games (which we covered in Thursday’s Traina Thoughts) and Barkley has had enough.

“You got greedy players and greedy owners” Barkley said on CNBC. “They don’t care about anything but how to make the most money possible. We should never put money above the regular fan. Everybody can’t afford streaming. There’s nothing wrong with streaming, but when you start just going to the highest bidder and you’re not on regular television, I think you do a disservice to the fan. In fairness, the players want to make as much money as possible. The owners want to make as much money as possible, but the fan is always the most important thing because no matter how much money you make, if the people are not watching, it’s a lose-lose proposition.”

While I appreciate Barkley’s take and agree with most of it, it’s hard to say it’s a lose-lose proposition because most fans are already not watching the NBA on a national level during the regular season and the NBA was still able to generate $76 billion in its new television deals.

According to Sports Media Watch, the 2023–24 regular season averaged 1.09 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV. That number does not make the NBA a ratings juggernaut.

Networks didn’t fork over $76 billion for the ratings, though. They paid that money for tonnage. NBC needs content for Peacock. Amazon needs any live sports content they can get. With the NBA providing games on a nightly basis from October to April, the NBA is a perfect partner for those networks that need to fill hours with live programming.

And the amount of people who watch those games is irrelevant because the league already got its money and that money will trickle down the players. Despite Barkley’s plea, nobody actually cares about the fan.

2. With Tom Brady in the fold, Fox is shaking up its NFL broadcast pairings for the 2024 season.

The big change (besides Brady) is Mark Sanchez getting elevated to the No. 3 crew with Adam Amin. This was a smart move because Sanchez has shown a lot of promise and Amin, who worked with Mark Schlereth in previous years, is a very enjoyable listen.

The Amin-Sanchez booth has a chance to be one of the better ones on Sunday afternoons.

3. I cannot believe the handwringing over JJ Redick saying the f-word at his introductory press conference as Lakers coach is still going on. It was ridiculous then and it’s even more ridiculous now. This take by ESPN’s Courtney Cronin is just mind-boggling.

If I’m following correctly, Cronin thinks it’ll be a problem when Redick uses the four-letter word while coaching? So now Redick will be the first NBA head coach in history to curse? Hopefully the players and refs won’t be scarred for life when they hear Redick use the vulgarity.

Can we please grow up?

4. We won’t judge the actual performance. We’ll just give Travis Kelce huge props for tackling one of the great power ballads of the ‘80s, Whitesnake’s "Here I Go Again," at the American Century Championship charity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

5. Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill should be banned for life from ever making lists again.

6. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped Thursday and it features an interview with Sports Business Journal NFL reporter Ben Fischer.

Fischer covered the antitrust trial in which a jury ordered the NFL to pay $4.7 billion for violating antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service. How much will Sunday Ticket customers get and when? What are the NFL’s chances to win an appeal? What does the verdict mean for how the NFL will distribute games in the future? Will the NFL ever sell single-team or single-game packages? What revelations came out of the trial?

Fischer also talks about what's going on with the NFL Network, the cancellation of the popular Around the NFL podcast, moving Good Morning Football out of New York, and more.

Following Fischer, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include Joe Burrow’s idea for the NFL schedule, the backlash aimed at LeBron James for playing with Bronny James, the Yankees’ woes and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date in 1976, Family Feud, hosted by Richard Dawson, debuted on ABC. When Tom Brady was on the SI Media Podcast a few weeks ago, I asked him if he could be a contestant on any game show, what would it be. He answered Family Feud and even specified the Richard Dawson version. So this gives me a chance to plug the Brady podcast again and remember how wild the Dawson-hosted Family Feud was with him kissing every contestant.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina

JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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