Charles Barkley Gives LIV Contract Deadline Ultimatum
By Liam McKeone
The possibility of Charles Barkley joining LIV came out of nowhere last week and very quickly became a real possibility. Barkley met with Greg Norman to discuss a possible role and has kept Dan Patrick and other media outlets updated throughout the saga.
Barkley is now saying that he doesn't have an offer from LIV yet and if he doesn't have one in hand by Thursday then he's done.
Barkley tells Dan Patrick he's given LIV enough publicity for the week. If LIV doesn't make him an offer by Thursday night, he's done with LIV.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) July 25, 2022
"I'm not going to get on here and say 'it's not about the money'. Of Course it's about the money."
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 25, 2022
-Charles Barkley says he has not received an offer from the #LIV Tour yet pic.twitter.com/mUHHQExEZn
Charles Barkley told us that as of today, he does NOT have an offer from the LIV Tour.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) July 25, 2022
Also, he said that he has not spoken to his bosses at TNT about doing both jobs.
I suppose from a certain angle it's refreshing to hear Barkley bluntly state that it's about the money after we've seen numerous big-name golfers publicly promise their support to the PGA before defecting to LIV shortly thereafter.
It's always been tough to see Barkley's fit with LIV and now that he's given them a public ultimatum a partnership feels even less likely. The upstart tour doesn't have a TV broadcast deal with anybody and there are quickly diminishing returns on paying Barkley nine digits to commentate over a livestream.
Without a TV deal in place, paying the TNT analyst an unholy sum of money to become a key personality of the broadcast just doesn't make sense. But there's enough money flowing into LIV that many decisions need not be financially prudent. We'll see what wins out in the end. By Thursday, apparently.