The essential genius of TNT’s “Inside The NBA” is that it’s unrehearsed and unscripted. The show can morph from making fun of analyst Charles Barkley for not winning any NBA titles to a thoughtful discussion on the NBA’s interests in China.
The studio show of the moment that comes closest to emulating that same free-wheeling nature and engagement is CBS Sports and Paramount+’s “UEFA Champions League Today.”
The show is hosted by Kate Abdo with analysts Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry and Micah Richards. Like “Inside” at its best, the cast can seamlessly morph from mocking each other to long and thoughtful discussions on racism in soccer. When he put together his Champions League pregame group, Pete Radovich Jr., the executive producer of “UEFA Champions League Today,” said his talent decisions were impacted by what he saw over the decades on the “Inside” crew.
This week the show will air pitch-side from Emirates Stadium in London, home of English Premier League side Arsenal, for the latest round of CL games, including Arsenal-Porto. The on-air schedule is here:
Recently, The Athletic spoke with Abdo, Henry, and Richards to get a sense of why the show is working and one big question coming up — the future of Henry on the show beyond this season.
Why does your show work?
Abdo: The freedom to be off-script, the freedom to be our authentic selves. We’re all very different personalities and bring different assets to the table. But I think as a whole, we all complete each other in some way.
Working in television, it’s such a source of frustration to me because so often you go into a show and have every single minute accounted for, knowing exactly what’s going to happen over the next hour. It takes all the air out of the room for anything to happen spontaneously. We go into segments knowing that we have an overall vision for each segment, but if we go totally off that vision, that’s OK. That freedom to me has been so precious because I have been part of things that are extremely rehearsed and not just the pre-produced elements being rehearsed, but also the conversations being rehearsed. … I get it. Everyone wants to look polished and clean and glossy, and there’s something to that. But you have to find that balance with also just being real and living in a moment.
Richards: Trust is the key for me. I think we’re comfortable in our own skin. Take Thierry Henry. He’s a legend of the game and he loves football. You got Carragher, the No. 1 pundit in England. But he has to sort of be a different Jamie on our show to make the show work. We all know our roles within the show to make it the best it can possibly be. We can’t have egos within the show. … I mean, I won the Premier League and Kate destroys me every single week in the show. But I know it’s for the good of the show, and as long as my credibility does not get lost, it’s totally fine. We have producers who allow us to do things that other companies probably wouldn’t allow. We trust and respect each other.
Henry: I would mention authenticity. We are real. I think that’s why people can relate. There is no bulls—. We respect each other, we love each other, and it’s not bulls—. We all know our place and what we can bring to the show. We don’t step on each other’s toes. It’s always for the good of the show. When you can educate and entertain people, you can make them relate in a simple way without using so many football words. They see that you are real. People respond to that. It is a fun show to watch, but I also think we are good at what we do when we analyze the game. We can switch from Micah or me or Kate or Jamie saying something funny to talking about the war in Ukraine. There is something for everybody in the show, and we are real.
I see a parallel with Thierry and Charles Barkley and (Shaquille O’Neal) on “Inside The NBA.” He is a very famous person who allows the others on set to make fun of him. How do you see that?
Henry: If you piss me off, I’ll let you know. But it’s not because I had a great career, right? If you watch, I often take the piss out of myself. I know I have a big forehead. I’m comfortable in my own skin. Therefore, you can joke with me.
Sometimes that can be lost in translation because people go with what I did in my life instead of the situation. … I watch “Inside The NBA,” and it’s very difficult at times when anyone tries to joke with Shaq because he will just say, “Four rings.” So you say, “OK, sorry, bye.” (Laughs.) People may have a view of me in a certain way and think, “Oh my God, we can’t joke with him.’ Of course you can. I joke about myself all the time. … I like to joke, and (Abdo and Richards) know that.
Chemistry. It’s important to have chemistry. Because we spend time with each other, we call each other, we text each other, they know how I am. It’s really a family, all the good and the bad. This one thinks this, this one thinks that. But at the end of the day, it’s all love.
Thierry Henry has found success with CBS Sports’ Champions League coverage. But his contract is up soon and he also has a job in coaching. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP via Getty Images)
It is very hard to keep a show like this together because people get opportunities elsewhere. For instance, Thierry has a great passion for coaching. How long do you hope this continues?
Richards: We’ve got something special here, and I’m not saying it for the sake of saying it. I think we could do this for another 10 years. But I only think it works if we all stay together. That is my biggest fear. We don’t know where Thierry will be. At that moment he is allowed to do both (Henry is the coach for the Under-21 French national team), but if he takes a Premier League job or a Serie A or La Liga job, he can’t always do this. So that is my fear. The question is for Theirry. He probably can’t give us any guarantees. But for me, I want to be doing CBS for as long as I possibly can.
Henry: Obviously, having the opportunity to coach the Under-21 and the Under-23 for the big games, I made sure that I could do both. So that tells you something because I would have stopped CBS if I didn’t see a value of it. I do understand that if something is missing, then a lot will be missing. I’m not talking about me. It can be Micah, it can be Kate, it can be Jamie. If we’re not together, I don’t think it will be the exact same show.
What’s going to happen after my two years with the Under-21 (which ends in summer 2025)? I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I know is right now I’m happy to be here and don’t want to miss anything. I don’t know where my mind is going to be in two years. Do I still want to coach? I don’t know. I cannot go further than that on that question in terms of what I’m going to do next because I don’t know what’s going to come next. But I’m happy with CBS and I made sure that I could do both.
It’s time-consuming. I know it is just the national team and not a day-to-day job, but it is time-consuming to think about what team you’re going to have, scouting games, and all of that. It’s not an easy one. But I wanted to make sure that I was going to be still part of this because I’m aware of what we have. It is special. We are a show that a lot of people talk about. What’s ironic is it’s a show in the U.S. and everybody talks about it in Europe. I never thought in my life that I was going to get stopped in the streets and the first thing wouldn’t have been my playing career, I can go on holiday in the U.S. or wherever and people come up to me and say, “I love your show and you guys are mad funny.” It’s a reminder for me and everybody that we do have something special here.
Abdo: I think you can’t help but think about (how) it could end. The nature of television is short-term contracts. We want to keep the family together. I think that we’re all looking at Thierry. I think for Micah and Jamie, TV is the chosen career. It’s the one they’re really pursuing. The same for me. If you find this kind of place of magic, it’s so hard to ever want to walk away from. But in Thierry’s position, there’s another passion that he has that burns just as strong if not stronger. I mean, essentially, he’s already proven what he can do in TV. We all know how good he is. So there’s still that area where he still wants to be able to prove that he was not only a great football player but how well he can lead other men to play football.
There’s definitely a sense of nervousness with us. We’re all aware of what he brings to the table. Thierry has star power that is very hard to replace. There’s just something special about him as a person and as an analyst. I genuinely don’t know who you could replace that with. I could say the same about Micah. … It’s a team situation. It matters so much the energy and the spirit of the people. If anybody leaves, it’s just damaging.
Can you give us at least two years, Thierry?
Henry: My contract (with CBS) is up this year.
Oh, so we’ve really got some conversations coming.
Henry: So yeah, the situation is me. We don’t know what the future holds. I know what the present does. I always say to people about this show: We are all real. Nobody is acting on the show. You see Micah on the show, that is exactly how he is. Jamie, the same. Kate, the same. Me? The same. Nobody is acting to be loved or not loved. You can see when Charles Barkley is upset. You can see when Shaq is. They don’t try to cushion it.
The Champions League format is changing for 2024-25. As a television product, it has the potential to create more interest. How do you see it?
Richards: It’s good for us, and it’s good for the fans, but it’s not good for the players. We’ve got to think about the product as well rather than just the entertainment. You can rotate players and there are more subs, and I get all that, but the reason why we all love soccer is because of the quality of it. If the quality drops, then it becomes a problem. I don’t think it will.
I think it’s a good thing for the teams who don’t get a lot of recognition. I think that is the good thing to make it more competitive for them. Would it be better? We don’t know yet. I think it’s a good thing for the lesser teams. I just hope it doesn’t destroy the quality of the product. That’s my only concern. But for us, the fans, entertainment, the television, the press, of course it’s going to be good for us.
Abdo: I don’t like change. I’m a traditionalist. The format I’m used to changing just makes me uncomfortable. I don’t have the same background in terms of being a player. Selfishly, I like my winter break. I like having six weeks off. The soccer season is long. I’m not crazy about it, but I know that every time they change a format, you always hate it in the beginning, and then you suddenly get to a point where you can’t really remember what it used to be like. So it will become normal. But if I could choose, it wouldn’t be happening.
Henry: You get more games, entertainment, content. So yes, for TV, fans, small teams, exposure, content, it is great. But as a player and not a pundit, I think about injuries and the integrity of the players. What I want to see personally as a fan, I want to see the starting XI of (Manchester) City at the end of the season being fresh to compete against the best starting XI of Real Madrid or Arsenal or whatever. I don’t want to see people resting because you have too many games.
As an ex-player, my issue is they don’t ask the players anything. UEFA, FIFA are adding games, which I totally understand on their side. But who are going to play those games? I want to see (Lionel) Messi in. I want to see (Kevin) De Bruyne at the end of this season and not coming out with a hamstring injury. You need to find the right balance because you want to see players at their peak performing.
(Top photo of Kate Abdo, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards during a May 2023 show: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images)
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