The Big Ten are set to deliver a stunner when they finalize their media rights negotiations sometime in the coming days. Barring any last-minute surprises, ESPN aren’t expected to land any of the Big Ten packages, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations has confirmed. Athleticism.
In addition to Fox, which locked Big Ten rights months ago, the conference is expected to partner with both CBS and NBC. Such deals, if finalized, could result in the following Saturday slate: a game at noon ET on Fox, a game at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS and prime time on NBC. Multiple sources involved in the negotiations have reiterated over the past month that the Big Ten prioritized exclusive windows throughout the process.
Sports Business Journal first reported on the developments and noted that ESPN was still negotiating with the Big Ten, so there’s still a chance the network could end up with a package. If ESPN doesn’t end up with Big Ten football and basketball games in this round of negotiations, it will be historic. ESPN has aired Big Ten games for the past 40 years; it shares rights with Fox under the current deal, which is due to expire in 2023.
The Big Ten is also expected to add a streaming package, although it’s not yet clear whether that will go to Amazon or Apple, a source said. Athleticism. Both companies have significantly increased their investments in live sports programming over the past year.
Here’s what we know about potential options:
How ESPN losing the Big Ten impacts its battle with Fox
If the Big Ten were to leave ESPN, it would add some fuel to the fire brewing between ESPN and Fox. ESPN has exclusive rights to the SEC, and Fox would have primary rights to the Big Ten — so the rivals would each back a different horse as the two 16-team conferences are expected to pull away from their peers by the end of the decade. What could this mean for programming decisions? Framing? Future media rights linked to an extension of the college football playoffs?
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren opposed early efforts to expand the CFP last winter, in part because expanding the CFP before the end of the current contract (which expires in 2026) meant that ESPN would have an exclusive trading window. Warren has long advocated for CFP to have multiple media partners, which many in the industry have taken to mean Fox getting involved.
Everyone I’ve spoken to in and around the Big Ten over the past few months has pointed to the league’s desire for exclusive windows. I asked if there could be too many partners for one league and was told no.
—Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 9, 2022
What Warren envisioned for college football’s first postseason event is akin to the NFL playoffs: multiple media partners airing different rounds and investing more in their coverage of the sport throughout the year to support this.
What this means for the Pac-12, the Big 12 and Our Lady
If ESPN doesn’t get a Big Ten package, you have to think that bodes well for the Pac-12 and Big 12, whose rights come next. The Pac-12 opened its exclusive trading window with ESPN at the start of the USC and UCLAmoved on to the Big Ten.
What is perhaps equally – if not more – interesting is how Notre Dame fits into these developments. Could NBC’s relationship with the Big Ten help Irish people join the conference? With longtime rival USC and a footprint that now stretches from Los Angeles to New York, the Big Ten believe it has never been more attractive to independent Irish people. The checks that the conference is about to hand out to its members thanks to this new media deal won’t hurt either. Multiple outlets reported that the Big Ten were looking to eclipse $1 billion in rights fees a year in their new deal.
The impact on the future realignment of the conference
The Big Ten’s decision to add USC and UCLA earlier this summer sparked another wave of super conference speculation. Although the SEC and the Big Ten will both have 16 members each by 2025, the industry as a whole expects that neither league will stay at this size forever.
But there has been no major movement since the announcement of this news at the end of June. The Pac-12 begins working on its media rights deal and figuring out what it’s worth to partners without the Los Angeles schools. This is probably the next important piece of the puzzle, as will be any sort of contractual relationship that binds schools such as Oregon, Washington and Stanford to the Pac-12 for a set period of time. The Big Ten opted to add just two schools in June. Now that the media deal is almost done, could he go deeper into the possibility of a Western wing? If the Big Ten really wanted to, they could turn to both the Pacific Northwest and the Bay Area. This could give the conference inventory for the Saturday late night TV window – a fourth window, for those keeping track at home – and also allow for easier travel opportunities for all sports for schools. from Los Angeles.
Could the new media rights deal and relationship with NBC convince Notre Dame to make a move? The Big Ten would surely act quickly if this became a possibility.
These potential decisions didn’t need to be made and locked in before the Big Ten signed this deal. Several people involved in the process said Athleticism that they expect league contracts to include triggers that would either allow renegotiation in the event of a conference membership addition, or gradually adjust payouts automatically in such an event.
Where could a streaming package land and what could it look like?
Scott Dochterman, College Football Staff Writer: Big Ten officials were lukewarm about a streaming-only option due to the risk of fan alienation like when BTN launched in 2007. These directors became more comfortable with the potential for streaming at the late spring and early summer.
NFL Launches Weekly Package on Amazon Prime Starting This Fall, Apple TV Streams Exclusive MLB match on Friday evening and MLS signed a 10-year deal with Apple TV starting in 2023. Other college leagues have streaming options as part of its media rights deal, but not an exclusive package. Amazon Prime was long considered the favorite to reclaim the Big Ten streaming rights, but Apple TV joined the deal after the USC/UCLA expansion was announced on June 30. NBC’s Peacock could also become a standalone broadcast option if the linear network wins a Big Ten Package.
How might the viewing windows unfold?
The girl: An industry source said Big Ten officials approached school administrators this spring to review options for a Friday night or mid-November primetime kickoff. Currently, the Big Ten are planning four Friday night kickoffs with just two outside of Labor Day weekend.
The league’s media rights agreements with Fox and ESPN allow for network-controlled primetime programming through the first weekend of November. Beginning on the second weekend, the two schools must agree to have a game play in prime time. However, during the 2020 pandemic, arrangements were made for additional primetime launches in late November. By adding UCLA and USC, weather won’t be a major issue for prime-time kickoffs like it is in the Midwest and East Coast.
It looks like the Big Ten will air games in the three coveted windows: noon, 3:30 p.m., and prime time on the Fox, CBS, and NBC linear networks, respectively. FS1 and BTN, of which Fox owns 61%, will also stagger launch times. Big Ten officials have asked schools to consider joining Iowa-Nebraska as a second Black Friday option, which could now be in play with USC and UCLA joining the league in 2024. At this point, all refused.
(Top photo: Aaron Doster/USA Today)