Hundreds of students lined up outside Pfleeger Concert Hall Tuesday evening for the chance to hear hall-of-fame basketball player and Emmy award-winning analyst Charles Barkley speak.

Barkley, who’s an icon in the basketball media landscape, made a return appearance at Rowan University. He first spoke on campus back in 2019, and during his second visit, he shared personal stories from his career, cracked a few jokes, and offered advice to college students.

The night started off with a few words from Neil Hartman, the director of the Center for Sports Communication and Social Impact, as he welcomed Barkley back to Glassboro.

“This is a heck of a week for us,” Hartman said. “We are thrilled to have Charles Barkley back here[at Rowan] with us.”

Barkley initially answered questions asked by Hartman, before shifting to an open Q&A session with members of the audience.

The first topic Barkley discussed was TNT losing their broadcasting rights to the NBA, after the league spent 36 years on the network. 

Last year, it was announced that Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, would lose its broadcasting rights to the NBA after the 2024-25 season, after they failed to match Amazon Prime Video’s offer. Prior to this announcement, the NBA finalized a combined 11-year combined media rights deal with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBC, and Amazon worth an estimated $76 billion.

As a result of Turner Sports losing their broadcasting rights, their hit show “Inside the NBA,” which Barkley has been a part of for 25 years, will air on ESPN/ABC. But, it will still be produced and filmed inside the Atlanta TNT studio that it has been based out of for decades.

Barkley expressed his displeasure with the show’s move to ESPN.

“Pray for me,” Barkley said.

One of the reasons for concern is the effect on the show’s runtime. 

“It’s gonna be different for a couple reasons, and this one of the things that we’re concerned with. The best part of our show is after the game, we have 45 minutes to hours just to make sure people are having a good time, that’s going to be gone pretty much,” Barkley said. “When we are on ABC, we want to go to the local affiliate quickly, and then when we’re on ESPN, they’re going to want to go to SportsCenter. So the best part of our show is probably going to be gone.”

Barkley is now also an employee of a company that has recently been under fire. Two weeks ago, comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was pulled off the air after he made comments related to Charlie Kirk’s death. The suspension was appealed last night, and Kimmel returned to the air.

Barkley criticized ABC for suspending Kimmel, saying they can’t pick and choose when it comes to censorship.

“We can’t have selective prosecution when it comes to free speech,” Barkley said. “Whether you think he’s [Kimmel] is right or wrong, you cannot have selective prosecution. I just don’t think that’s right.”

As someone who is known for their fiery, outspoken personality, he says people don’t need to worry about him holding back when he goes live on his new networks.

“I don’t think you have to worry about me reigning anything back,” Barkley said. “I’m gonna be myself, it’s one of the reasons I’ve been so successful. I’m a straight shooter.”

Aside from his departure from TNT, Barkley also talked about the importance of education over athletics.

“I wish everybody could play sports, but you’re talking about a couple thousand jobs in reality. So I always tell kids, make sure you can get your education, because that can dictate your future,” Barkley said.

Barkley also criticized the rising cost of college, saying it negatively affects those who struggle financially.

“College is so expensive, and it’s really unfortunate that it’s so expensive now,” Barkley said. “We live in a great country. The notion that kids who are so smart have no chance of going to some of these schools is really unfair, because where you’re born and how you’re born should not put strikes against you.”

To close out his evening discussion, Barkley offered some words of encouragement to the countless sports communication and media students in the first couple rows of Pfleeger Hall.

There’s many people sitting here right now, in five, 10,15 years that’ll accomplish some amazing things, and they don’t even know it. That’s the beauty of this journey,” Barkley said. “They don’t even know who the hell it is. They’ll accomplish some great stuff, and you just have to keep going.”

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