“Charles Barkley, Shaq and Ernie Moving to Inside the ATP”: TNT’s Mega $650 Million French Open Deal Makes NBA Fans Go Berserk

American tennis fans will be pleased to learn that the French Open will be covered in the country by one of the best broadcasters – Warner Bros. Considering that the home of TNT Sports is on the verge of losing its NBA media rights, fans are hilariously demanding Charles Barkley and the remaining crew of the Inside the NBA to cover the tennis matches.

The success that TNT Sports’ European counterpart, i.e. Eurosport has received, seems to have played a big role in the media giants going for a staggering 10-year, $650 million deal starting from 2025. The agreement will benefit the Grand Slam by more than $50 million per year considering that NBC and Tennis Channel were paying merely $12 million every year in the last contract extension they had agreed to (as per The Athletic).

American sports fans couldn’t be more excited to hear the news. Apart from getting coverage of Roland Garros for the next 10 years, they are joking that Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew to make appearances and give their two cents on tennis. And that show would presumably be called ‘Inside The ATP’.

The Inside the NBA won’t be able to entertain fans in the future as NBC is set to snap up the NBA media rights from TNT. Hence, fans are not wrong in hoping for a miracle and having Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson Jr. cover certain tennis matches. While the possibility of this happening is quite low, it will definitely help tennis’ popularity to increase in the country.

TNT’s Agreement With the French Open to Mark the End of Inside the NBA?

The NBA is nearing an 11-year, $76 billion deal to provide media rights across three broadcasters – ESPN ($2.6 billion/year), NBC ($2.5 billion/year), and Amazon ($1.8 billion/year). Considering that these three broadcasters’ bids are being finalized, TNT won’t be in the mix.

TNT Sports has been the home of the famous Inside the NBA show – one of the most loved sports analysis shows in the country. With the Inside the NBA show coming to an end after almost 35 long years (13 years with this specific core as the panel), even the esteemed hosts of the show cannot prevent being sad. Shaquille O’Neal told NBA star Draymond Green about his life without Inside the NBA:

“I’m glad I have different options to fall back on, but when I go left, it just starts to get sad. Like damn, no Ernie, no Chuck, no Kenny. Then, when I think right, it’s a lot of other possibilities, great possibilities. But right now, I’m just gonna stay in the middle,” Shaq said.

There was a slight hope amongst fans that TNT could match Amazon’s bid and keep the show alive. However, with Warner Bros.- Discovery confirming their move to acquire the French Open’s media rights till 2034, it is almost confirmed that TNT is out of the NBA media rights bidding war.