Charles Barkley says college sports is “screwed up” and that it’s “stupid” to think he will continue to give Auburn millions of dollars in NIL money.
“You know, this [is] how crazy our country is. We’ve actually screwed up college athletics, which used to be the greatest thing in the world,” he said on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.” ”[It shows] how bad we are as a society.”
Barkley’s comments come as top college quarterbacks are making $4-5 million via the transfer portal, and Washington QB Demond Williams Jr. recently announced he would transfer after agreeing to a $4 million NIL deal because LSU had reportedly offered him more. Ultimately, when it became clear he might get sued by Washington, Williams announced he would remain at the school.
“How do you screw up college sports?” Barkley added. “And I’m not against the players making money, but I think the model they have now is unsustainable when you have to come up with tens of millions of dollars every year to pay college players like, Yeah, I’m not in for that.
“And I’ve said before, I’ve given more money to Auburn, legal or illegal, than any athlete in the history of the school, and the notion that I’m gonna come up with a couple million dollars every year so we can be good at basketball and football, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
When the hosts pointed out that players now have to be paid “after every semester after you already negotiated,” Barkley added:
“It’s crazy. And you get to leave after every year because the school offered you more money. I says this is unsustainable. One thing, I’m pretty sure of, black and broke don’t work in any in any municipality in the world. I’ve been rich for a long time. I plan to stay that way. But the notion that I’m gonna give Auburn millions of dollars every year so we can be good at sports, that’s just not gonna happen. I’m really proud of what I’ve given Auburn, and I’m gonna continue to give them money, but I’m not gonna give them millions of dollars every year so we can be good at sports. That’s just stupid because people be talking about me behind my back, talking about, how did that guy go broke? How did he lose all that money? Because y’all wanted to be good at sports, fool.”