On Sunday, Charles Barkley made a point of saying he isn’t a fan of the current name image and likeness system that has collectives essentially paying their players to join school programs.
Barkley is a current NBA analyst for Turner networks and college basketball analyst for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and spoke up on “60 Minutes” about his opinion.
Barkley said, “It’s a travesty and a disgrace. I’m so mad now how we can mess up something that’s so beautiful, In the next three to five years, we’re going to have 25 schools that’s going to dominate the sports because they can afford players, and these schools who can’t afford or won’t pay players are going to be irrelevant.”
Barkley also criticized the NCAA last week after CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg interviewed the new president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, about his plans for NIL and College Athletics. During the interview Baker suggested talking to lawmakers in Washington about NIL and allowing politicians to be involved.
Barkley stated of the interview, “Did he say we’re going to ask the politicians to help us? See, that p—es me off already. Our politicians are awful people. As I talked to Clark earlier because I asked him about your conversation, I would actually [like to get] people who actually care about basketball.”
Barkley concluded by saying, “I would put a committee together. I would love for Clark to be on the committee. Get some coaches, get some players and let’s try to work this thing out. We can’t ask these politicians nothing. Those people are awful people. Democrats and Republicans – they’re all crooks.”
—
Al Sermeno Photography / Shutterstock.com