Bryce Harper reportedly curses out Rob Manfred; Charles Barkley discusses the future of “Inside the NBA”; and insights from Netflix executives on its sports strategy. Plus additional news about Deion Sanders, Warner Bros. Discovery, MLB Network and ESPN LA 710.
Harper in profane exchange with Manfred: “not scared to lose 162 games”
Philadelphia Phillies 1B Bryce Harper reportedly cursed out Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred during a meeting with the team last week and told him that players “are not scared to lose 162 games” if the owners pursue a salary cap, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Passan, Harper was incensed during a conversation about the economics surrounding the game ahead of the expiration of the league’s collective bargaining agreement following next season.
Although Manfred never specifically talked about a salary cap, there have been indications that some owners again want to push for a cap in the upcoming negotiations — an effort that has for decades been strongly opposed by the MLB Players Association. Harper is said to have told Manfred that he could “get the **** out of our clubhouse” if he wanted to speak about a potential cap. In response, Manfred said that he was “not going to get the **** out” and conveyed the importance of discussing the business. Despite shaking hands with Manfred at the end of the meeting, Harper did not answer phone calls from him the next day.
“Rob seems to be in a pretty desperate place on how important it is to get this salary cap because he’s floating the word lockout two years in advance of our collective bargaining agreement [expiration],” Phillies OF Nick Castellanos said to ESPN. “That’s nothing to throw around. That’s the same thing as me saying in a marriage, ‘I think divorce is a possibility. It’s probably going to happen.’ You don’t just say those things.”
The threat of a potential work stoppage in December 2026 comes as MLB looks to centralize its media rights amidst ambiguity surrounding regional sports networks and the expiration of national deals two years later.
Barkley: TNT postgame length still undetermined
TNT “Inside the NBA” analyst Charles Barkley said on “Pardon My Take” Monday that he still does not know whether the postgame show will be able to run at its usual length when it begins airing on ESPN this fall. “We don’t know because everybody can say right now, ‘We’re going to leave everything the same,” but if the game ends, is SportsCenter going to go like, ‘No, you guys got 45 minutes to shoot the sh*t,’ or, ‘We need to go to SportsCenter in 15 or 20 minutes’?”
Despite the uncertainty, Barkley said he is excited to continue working on the program since everyone is able to keep their jobs. He acknowledged that he was somewhat “out of touch with reality” regarding the financial situation his colleagues. “I’d never been around people who had to worry about paying their bills because all of my friends are basketball players and rich people … hearing guys talk about [a] mortgage. I was like saying to myself, ‘What’s a mortgage?'”
Barkley also again referenced the “Inside Sports” pilot he and his colleagues shot for TNT, which he previously alluded to in an interview with Dan Patrick earlier in the summer. The pilot included segments on fashion, axe throwing and finger painting. “We did like four 15-minute sections, and I was sitting there like, ‘I think this is stupid. I don’t know how stupid it’s going to be until I see it,’ and when we walked out [of] the studio that night, we’re like, ‘That’s the stupidest sh*t we’ve ever done,’ and that’s my major concern with TNT,” Barkley said. “I think we can handle the ESPN portion, but I don’t want them doing something stupid with our show that people [are] like, ‘Man, they really ruined that show,’ but I will say I give them credit. They said the pilot was sh***y.”
Sarandos: Netflix “very excited” with existing sports strategy
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call Monday that the company is “very excited with [its] existing strategy” on live programming, of which sports is a “subcomponent.” Sarandos: “We’re excited about the Canelo vs. Crawford fight in September and the SAG Awards and our weekly WWE matches, and the NFL.”
The company remains focused on “ownable big breakthrough events,” Sarandos said, noting that live is still a “relatively small part of the total content spend.”
Netflix announced revenue of $11.08 billion in its most recent quarterly earnings report — a 16% year-over-year increase — and net income of $3.1 billion equating to $7.19 per share.
As for one of those live properties, “WWE Raw,” Netflix VP of sports Gabe Spitzer said last week that it is “everything we could have hoped for and more.” In its first season on Netflix, “Raw” has consistently been on the streamer’s Top-10 English-language television charts and is said to be averaging “just over 3 million views per week,” according to data cited by Joe Otterson of Variety. It should be noted that a view in this context is “defined as total hours viewed divided by total run time.”
Plus: Deion Sanders, Warner Bros. Discovery, MLB Network, ESPN LA 710
- Colorado Buffaloes head football coach Deion Sanders revealed that he underwent a bladder removal after being diagnosed with bladder cancer. Sanders “plans to oversee the Buffaloes this season,” according to the Associated Press, and he disclosed that he made a will in May and lost 25 pounds over the summer as he dealt with the cancer and complications from surgeries.
- The two public companies in which Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to split in mid-2026 will be called “Warner Bros.” and “Discovery Global.” David Zaslav will serve as chief executive officer of the former, which is going to contain HBO Max and movie properties; while Gunnar Wiedenfels will take on the CEO role for the latter, which will include TNT Sports, CNN and Discovery.
- MLB Network is airing 10 consecutive hours of trade deadline coverage this Thursday featuring insiders Mark Feinsand, Jon Heyman, Joel Sherman and Jon Morosi, along with former general managers Steve Phillips and Rick Hahn. The network will then head to Bristol Motor Speedway and air editions of “MLB Central,” “Intentional Talk” and “MLB Tonight” on Friday and Saturday ahead of the MLB Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.
- ESPN recently reached multiyear agreements with Steve Mason and John Ireland, keeping the afternoon drive duo together on ESPN LA 710 through Super Bowl LXI. Mason and Ireland are in the midst of their 20th year working together on the station, which also airs live game broadcasts for the Lakers, Kings and Angels.
