Netflix makes major play for Charles Barkley

Is Netflix among those wanting a piece of Charles Barkley?

While the streaming service doesn’t have NBA rights, there were reportedly at least talks about bringing Barkley into the fold in a non-NBA-related manner. According to Bloomberg , there was at least a conversation about Barkley contributing coverage of Netflix’s upcoming fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.

Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw writes that Barkley’s camp has suggested he might be open to working with other networks, but Turner maintains that his contract restricts him to its platform.

That hasn’t stopped Barkley from speaking with other networks .

While Barkley has committed to TNT Sports long-term , putting his initial retirement announcement on hold, he did speak to Amazon, ESPN, and NBC, suggesting everything was on the table with Warner Bros. Discovery’s NBA rights in flux. By returning to TNT Sports, Barkley revealed he gave up upwards of $100 million, leaving upwards of nine figures on the table himself.

Back to the Paul-Tyson fight, there was genuine concern that it would even happen, regardless of whether Barkley would be given the go-ahead or not. Obviously, Barkley will not be part of Netflix’s coverage, but there were serious doubts the fight would even happen, given the 58-year-old Tyson’s health issues.

The fight has been rescheduled for Friday, Nov. 15, as Netflix tries to kick-start its live sports ambitions . While those like Dan Le Batard think Paul has “no chance” versus Tyson, others in the sports media realm, like Chris Mannix, see this as a chance to be the most-watched boxing event in decades .

[ Bloomberg ]

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