Just weeks after losing its long-held national TV rights to the NBA, Turner made several key announcements this week signaling its intention to stay relevant in the live televised sports business.
First, the Warner Bros. Discovery unit locked up a key on-air talent, announcing that NBA Hall of Fame basketball star Charles Barkley will stay on Turner’s TNT network, even after his long-running studio show, Inside the NBA, seems destined to depart with the league after the upcoming 2024-25 season.
At the same time, Turner’s truTV announced the five week “Banana Ball World Tour” in partnership with the Savannah Bananas, a Harlem Globetrotters-like exhibition baseball team and social media sensation with almost nine million followers on TikTok.
Under the agreement, the network will broadcast five consecutive live Friday night Savanna Bananas "games," played between the weeks of August 16 - September 13.
Also Read: NBA Closing In on $76 Billion in TV Money Over 11 Years … With No TNT
This all comes after the NBA chose to leave TNT following next season in favor of new national TV deals with NBCUniversal and Amazon, as well as its renewed rights agreement with Disney/ESPN. (Warner Bros. Discovery has sued the NBA for breach of contract, claiming it indeed matched Amazon’s $1.7 billion-a-season offer and should have retained TV rights.)
Analysts predict that the loss of the NBA could cost TNT as much as $600 million in annual profit.
Now, it looks like the network is attempting to cobble together its sports programming through myriad alternative live-sports sources.
In May, for example, Turner agreed to sublicense select College Football Playoff games from Disney/ESPN, entering the collegiate gridiron business for the first time.
That was followed by a June decision by Turner to license U.S. TV rights to pro tennis’ French Open.
The Savannah Bananas, whose entertainment style revolves around dancing players, flaming baseball bats and a "fans first" motto, have the impressive record of selling out every home game they’ve played since 2017
The team has yet to share revenue figures from 2024, but as of 2023 it had made more than $10 million in annual sales.
As for Barkley and Inside the NBA, Sports Illustrated reported that WBD may transition its show, led by Barkley, into a multi-sport variety program, in which the hosts discuss other leagues that TNT owns the rights to.
“My deal is 10 years, $210 million,” Barkley previously told The Athletic. “Turner has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing, or they can offer me a pay cut,which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be (a) free agent.”
It now appears that the network has renewed its commitment to Barkley, and will continue to feature him in future sports programming.
“I love my TNT Sports family,” said Barkley in a statement. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future.”
