Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, Andrew Marchand of The New York Post expounded on his conversation with Charles Barkley surrounding the analyst’s interest in joining the LIV Tour.
Patrick asked about Barkley’s inclination to accept an offer, should it come, from the LIV Tour. Marchand said he’d like to do both, but realizes it will come down to money and right now, Barkley has some leverage.
“I think Turner knew that the market has changed with Tom Brady’s $375 million deal, Troy Aikman and Tony Romo making $18 (million),” started Marchand, “and you got the greatest studio analyst of all-time, an iconic show Inside the NBA, at $10 million. Again it’s a lot of money, but you kind of knew a new deal was coming.”
Conversation about Barkley’s potential new job would force a difficult decision to be made by Barkley to potentially leave Turner Sports. Marchand said that while that is possible, the two (Barkley and Turner) have such a good relationship that he’d be surprised if it forced a split.
“He’s so important to Inside the NBA. They do have a good relationship. I think ultimately if he says, ‘look I want to do LIV,’ they’re not just going to let him go,” said Marchand. “They are either going to offer him more money… or they say we’ll let you do these events but we want you on Inside the NBA and maybe you change his schedule a little bit, but not that much. I think it’s possible, [but] I don’t really see a scenario where Barkley’s not on Turner. I’d be really surprised if that’s where we end up here.”
