In this new era of college football and basketball, it isn’t uncommon to see programs that spend the most on top players have the most success.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti recently revealed that top football programs are spending as much as $40 million on their rosters heading into 2025. However, getting donors to fork over millions isn’t as simple as submitting a request. It takes a donor who is willing to dip into their own funds for relatively no return outside of a few perks and the possibility of their favorite team winning.

While that is enough for some, Auburn basketball legend Charles Barkley revealed in a recent interview on the “Dan Dakich show” that it doesn’t move the needle for him.

“Hey, I love Auburn, I do,” Barkley said. “I’d do anything for Auburn, within reason. But I’m not gonna give Auburn millions of dollars so we can be good in football or basketball. That doesn’t help my life in any capacity. And let me tell you something, black and broke in any states. Guam, District of Columbia, all fifty states. I never meant to be poor and black. That does not work.”

Barkley also expressed that he thinks the NCAA has ruined the sport of college basketball by not having any sort of regulations in the NIL space that can actively be enforced. While he doesn’t believe in throwing away a bunch of money on a roster to maybe win a title, Barkley did express that he will support causes he believes in, such as HBCU programs or the community of Birmingham.

“I just gave ten million dollars to HBCUs, that stuff is way more important to me,” Barkley said. “I just gave million dollars to ‘Blight’, in my hometown of Brimigham, to rebuild houses. That stuff is way more important to me than joining the cesspool that is college athletics. We’re such a shitty country, Dan. We’ve ruined college athletics, and I don’t wanna even get in that cesspool.”

While he may not be financially invested in Auburn, Barkley is always rooting for his Tigers whenever he makes appearances on television or podcasts. A sort of support that the program will simply have to accept from the 1984 SEC Player of the Year.