Seth Udinski, FISM News
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The Big Ten Conference has just sealed a massive new TV contract with Fox, CBS, and NBC (along with the affiliates of these parent companies), according to ESPN. The contract is worth a whopping $7 billion over the next seven seasons.
The deal takes effect in July 2023 and will run through the 2029-2030 season. ESPN clarified that the Big Ten will receive fewer funds in the first year of the deal since CBS will still be airing SEC games that year as well.
The Big Ten has just completed its media rights deals — the most lucrative in the history of college sports. pic.twitter.com/dgsmFyeuVp
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 18, 2022
“It’s very expensive to operate our athletic departments,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in an interview with ESPN.
These new deals will continually provide stability for our athletic departments to service our students in a highly productive manner, allowing them to get a world-class education but be treated in a manner that they rightfully deserve. This will help our student-athletes in their continued pursuit of name, image, and likeness opportunities because now you’re going to be on linear TV from morning to night on Saturday with three massive organizations.
The move is the latest in an NCAA arms race that could bring the Big Ten back into competition with its fiercest rival for conference dominance, the SEC.
It is reported that the three major networks will split Big Ten football championship contests during the seven-year span. Fox will receive four (2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029), CBS will get two (2024 and 2028), and NBC will air the 2026 title game.
Warren further highlighted how the breakdown for Saturday football games will play out: “People need to know where they need to go, at what time, and what content they’re going to get. That’s how you build fan avidity from a long-term standpoint. We will have three clearly defined pockets of Fox at noon, CBS at 3:30, and NBC in prime. That was important for me, that we have window pairs.”
Meanwhile, the Big Ten Network, under the umbrella of Fox Sports, will continue to air a reported 50 football games per season throughout the seven years of the deal.
Though football will likely be the leader in revenue for this new deal, the contract applies to all collegiate sports in the Big Ten.