Inside the NBA’s Charles Barkley is done staying quiet. During an appearance on The SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina, Barkley publicly called on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to address one of the league’s most pressing fan-facing problems — nobody knows where to find the games.
What We Know: This season, the NBA launched its new 11-year media rights arrangement with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN), Comcast Corporation (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon (Prime Vide), collectively worth a reported $77 billion. Consequently, fans must now navigate at least five different national platforms, with games shifting depending on the day of the week. The straightforward TNT-and-ESPN model fans knew for decades is gone after TNT Sports decided to shift away from the NBA broadcast rights.
What They Said: Charles Barkley pleads for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to become involved: “I think that Adam Silver’s got to get a hold of this thing. I think the games are too disjointed right now. NBC, Peacock, Amazon. I think we have disrespected the fans. They don’t know when the games are on. I just think that’s really unfair to the fans.”
Charles Barkley on his own personal frustration with the NBA national game broadcast scheduling: “When we weren’t having games, I had to go to my app and see where the game was at. Is it on NBC? Peacock? Is it on Amazon? The nights we haven’t been working, so it’s been frustrating for me. I can imagine how frustrated is for the regular fan. I’m not sure what the solution is. They’ve taken all the money now, but they’ve got to do something because I think we’ve done a disservice to the fans.”
What Remains Unclear: Commissioner Silver has acknowledged some short-term disruption with the new media agreements launching this past season. The NBA did launch a “Tap to Watch” feature across its app, social channels, and sponsors’ platforms to help direct fans to nightly broadcasts. However, as the season commenced viewership did trend upward for the league. The NBA announced viewership for the regular season saw an 86% increase over last season via the new national broadcast partner model. That’s the highest in almost a quarter century.
What It Means: As much as Charles Barkley may complain, the results speak for themselves. While Barkley may personally have trouble finding games, the ratings show more people are watching basketball than in recent years. A total of 57 telecasts averaged more than two million viewers. Another 19 games surpassed three million viewers. Those are numbers the league has not seen in years. The NBA’s return to NBC has been a major success. It also proves broadcast television still beats cable when it comes to sports. The league did attempt to educate the audience in the first year where to find games. Moving into the second year will prove much different with familiarity.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
