Charles Barkley has issued an ultimatum to LIV Golf.
Barkley, who has been candid about his conversations with the Saudi-backed golf league, said Monday on the “Dan Patrick Show” that he told LIV Golf they need to make an offer to him this week or he’s out.
Asked by Patrick if he knows when LIV Golf figurehead Greg Norman will get back to him, Barkley said, “I’m gonna give them a deadline. The deadline is gonna be Thursday. I’m playing at the Pro-Am Thursday … I’m not gonna keep TNT in limbo. I don’t think it’s fair to them. They’ve gotten plenty of play out of me coming to play out there Thursday. I’m not just gonna be no show pony. Don’t be wasting my time. I’m not gonna waste y’all time. When I leave New Jersey Thursday night, when I leave the golf course, if I don’t have an offer, it’s over.”
Charles Barkley hits a shot during the ACC Golf Championship on July 7, 2022. Getty Images for American Century InvestmentsBarkley also discussed what type of compensation he would need to make.
“Somebody said Phil Mickelson got $200 million. You take that money. Somebody said Dustin Johnson got $150 million, and Bryson [DeChambeau] and Brooks [Koepka] $150 million to play golf 15 times a year, I have no problem with them taking that money. And if they offer me something crazy, I’m gonna take it too,” Barkley said.
Patrick asked what would be a “crazy” number. Barkley initially declined to say what he makes. Patrick guessed $20 million between salary and endorsements — last week, Barkley confirmed to The Post’s Andrew Marchand that he makes $10 million as a TNT NBA analyst — and Barkley pegged that figure as accurate.
Greg Norman during a LIV Golf event in London on June 9, 2022. PA Images via Getty ImagesMarchand reported Monday in his “Sports Clicker” newsletter that it would be “highly unlikely” for Barkley to do LIV Golf and leave TNT with three years left on his deal there. The more likely scenarios, he wrote, were to get a new deal from TNT with a pay bump, or to do both jobs.
Barkley said it would take a lot of money to “give up my life right now” — seeming, without saying it, to recognize that he could lose some endorsements or public popularity if he becomes affiliated with the Saudi regime.
If LIV Golf tripled that $20 million and paid him $60 million a year?
“If they triple it, your first question should be, ‘Charles, where we celebrating at tonight?'” Barkley answered.
