STUMP STORY OF THE DAY
The Future of NBA Pre-Game Stands No Chance🏀
Reports came out this past week that the NBA is on the verge of reaching a new media rights agreement with NBC, Disney/ESPN, and Disney. This would leave TNT without any media rights to the NBA for the first time in over two decades. Reports came out that TNT's parent company, Warner Brother, can match the NBC deal but is seemingly unwilling to do so.
This would leave a massive hole in all of our hearts in the NBA season. Inside the NBA, TNT’s star-studded talk show featuring NBA Legends Charles Barkley, Shaq, Kenny Smith, and anchor-extraordinaire Ernie Johnson. Inside the NBA is by far the best pregame show in all of professional sports. It’s funny, unique, high energy, full of high-level analysis, and even pranks and competitions.
The bad guy in this case, is not the NBA, it’s Warner Brothers. According to sources, WB chose to feature college football playoff games on TNT and struck a deal with the NCAA, rather than spend the money on NBA media right. Charles Barkley went onto the Dan Patrick Show and absolutely obliterated the head honchos over at Warner Brothers: “I am [angry]. You know, Dan, it’s so interesting, I’ve been spending a lot of time with the crew lately. I’ve actually been with these guys where I’ve spent time with their — they bring their newborns in, they bring their kids in, they come in like when they were in high school and now they’ve graduated from college. That’s how long. Ernie’s been there 32 years, Kenny’s been there 27, I’ve been there 24, but think about that. Some of these people I work with, they brought their newborns in to say hello to us, they brought them in in high school when they graduated, and now they’ve already graduated from college.”
From through the TV screen, you can tell that Inside the NBA is a family. It is an extremely relaxed and comfortable setting, it makes it’s fans laugh, it teaches them about basketball, and they have some of the best interviews, pre and post game, of anyone in sports.
The future of the NBA pregame show is in grave danger if they cannot somehow get these guys on TV for longer. Their cohesion is unreal, it’s obvious these guys are best friends on and off set. You can’t just buy that. It’s so easy to enjoy their show, probably because it is so easy to tell how much they love their job and the sport of basketball.
If you watch the ESPN pre game show for 30 minutes with Kendrick Perkins and others, I think you would agree with all that I am saying.
It is not out of the question that they are out of the running to continue their show, but it seems unlikely, at least on TNT. Charles Barkley has his own production company, and he has discussed the possibility of moving the show to that if it comes down to it. That would be great, I’m sure the guys would have some crazy stuff going on if they ran their own show and did not have to answer to the big bosses. Let’s hope that no matter what happens, we see Chuck, Ernie, Kenny, and Shaq chopping it up for many years to come.
BECOME THE SMARTEST SPORTS FAN IN THE ROOM, IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES
In our newsletter sent out EVERY MORNING, 'The Daily Stump', we tell you everything you need to know from the previous night in sports and the upcoming events of the day! You'll even get some humor and culture. You'll NEVER watch sports the same again.
Comments