On Monday night John Ourand of Sports Business Journal published a story entitled “Big Ten talks in the home stretch.” It reports that following the expiration of the current media rights deal in 2023, the Big Ten Conference’s football and basketball games will not air on ESPN for the first time in 40 years. Instead, CBS, FOX Sports, and NBC appear to be the leaders regarding a new media deal with the conference. The article further states,
Fox agreed to the “A” package months ago. As part of its deal, it will carry a football game on the broadcast network at noon ET, plus football games on its cable channels FS1 and BTN, in which it holds a 60% stake.
The deals with CBS and NBC are not yet complete, but Ourand reports that the “B” package would be divided between networks. CBS would receive the rights for the 2:30 pm central time kickoffs, while NBC and its streaming service Peacock would carry primetime broadcasts. It’s also reported that,
The Big Ten is expected to be the first college conference to eclipse $1 billion per year in rights fees once all is said and done.
Ourand notes that while ESPN is not officially out of the running, they would need help from parent company Disney to increase their bid. The report further states that Disney CEO Bob Chapek graduated from Michigan State and may have a personal interest in keeping the Big Ten part of the Walt Disney Company family. That combined with the fact that Disney’s broadcast network ABC has produced Big Ten games since 1966 and ESPN has had a relationship with the league since 1982. That history could see the “House of Mouse” increase its bid in the next couple of days.
The current media rights deal for the league will expire in 2023. Of course, anything can change, but it appears that the Big Ten will be working with new broadcast partners in the foreseeable future.
Scroll below to view social media reactions to the first-of-its-kind collegiate broadcasting deal.