Media
Retirement for Charles Barkley?
‘My goal is to try to make it to 60.’
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Charles Barkley is threatening to retire from sports broadcasting in four years.
One of the biggest sports media stars on television, Barkley has circled 2023 on his calendar — the year he turns 60 — as the best time to walk away from regular employment.
“I think about it every year,” Barkley said. “I’m not going to work forever. I can promise you that. My goal is to try to make it to 60. I turned 56 a couple of weeks ago. I think 60 is a nice round number.”
Barkley has threatened to retire before. He referenced one time a couple of years ago when Turner President David Levy convinced him to stay. Barkley said he would need even more convincing in a few years.
“At some point, you’re going to be too old to have fun and enjoy life,” he said. “I don’t think you can say, let me just work my butt off, and then when I turn 70, enjoy life. I don’t think you’ve got a lot of [stuff] left after you turn 70.”
Barkley pushed back when I pointed out that it seems obvious that he loves his job, and working as an analyst on “Inside the NBA” hardly appears to be taxing.
“You can’t work until the day you die. Stop it.”
