As the old sports cliches goes, “It’s never over till it’s over…” But for now, it looks like the battle to allow TNT network to stay in the NBA TV coverage game may indeed be over. Is it the end of the line for “Inside the NBA?”
Within the past 24 hours (as of this posting date and time), the National Basketball Association is signing new media rights deals with Amazon, NBC, and Disney (corporate owner of ESPN) to carry games for the next 11 years. Yes, it seems Warner Brothers / Discovery (owners of TNT) are officially out of the running. Or are they?
If indeed next season is the last for TNT to carry NBA games, it’ll be the end of Inside the NBA, and perhaps a time to consider retirement (or a next move) for hosts Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and our man Shaquille O’Neal. Across its time on the air, Inside collected an amazing 19 sports Emmy Awards, and it was widely considered one of the best studio sports shows anywhere, on any network.
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If you’ve been following the story of the NBA TV rights wheeling and dealing, you know that originally, Warner Brothers / Discovery was shut out of the bidding when the other three media corporations came to the table with huge stacks of cash.
Still, it appeared Warner Brothers / Discovery might have had a last-minute special trick up its sleeve. Apparently the media contract with the NBA allowed for Warner to match the offer of one of the competitors, keeping them in the race. That’s exactly what happened, but it seems to have been to no good outcome.
While Warner Brothers did indeed file that matching offer, the NBA this week rejected it, saying in an official statement that “Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.” That led to a bit of social media back-and-fourth. It still may lead to a courtroom as well.
TNT Sports responded to the announcement with a statement on X, saying that the league did not interpret the clause correctly. “We have matched the Amazon offer, as we have a contractual right to do, and do not believe the NBA can reject it. We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action.”
By making the matching offer, TNT was ready to spend about $1.8 billion dollars for ongoing hoops TV rights…that’s the amount it appears Amazon was ready to spend. That package would have included regular season games as well as a conference final series every other year, plus rights to some WNBA regular season games and early round playoff broadcasts.
So as or right now – and the situation is still not fully settled by any stretch – this could be the last season for Inside the NBA and TNT hoops coverage. Needless to say, that’s not been going over well with the fans. One tweeted, “Adam Silver cares about money and not the fans smh.” Another tweeted, “NBA made a huge mistake.” And another, “Why would they take this from us?”
It could indeed by “the end of a generational run,” as another fan wrote. Inside the NBA started in 1989 and has become the most popular pre/postgame TV show among United States sports fans. Of course much of that popularity is due to the wisecracking, friendship, sniping and more that happens virtually every show between Sir Charles Barkley and Shaq.
What happens if Inside goes away? “This will NOT help viewership,” a fan posted. “I can tell you they lost me. I’m sure I’m not the only one.”
As for Barkley, he’s talked about retiring if and when the TNT job comes to an end. As a multiple award-winning host, Ernie Johnson will certainly find work elsewhere, if that’s what he wants. Shaq of course has a ton of other business and community interests. There’s no way he’ll be bored!
Still, as we said, it’s not officially over just yet. And perhaps one of the new broadcast contract companies may reach out to move Inside over to their house. As always, stay tuned!