The Big Ten’s lucrative new media rights deal, the largest in college athletics history, could bring the conference nearly $10 billion.
The Big Ten — which has expanded to include USC and UCLA in 2024 — has struck a deal with Fox, CBS, NBC, Peacock and FS1 that begins July 1, 2023. The seven-year contract will bring in between $7 billion and $8 billion, according to the Action Network.
Michigan and Ohio State playing on Nov. 27, 2022.Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesIf the conference expands — and the Big Ten “is not done” adding schools, sources told Action Network — the contract could be in the $10 billion neighborhood.
The jaw-dropping deal is notable not just for the amount but the network it excludes. ESPN will not be broadcasting Big Ten football and basketball for the first time in 40 years, as The Post’s Andrew Marchand first reported. ABC/ESPN will host the top SEC football games beginning in 2024.
As for the ironically named Big Ten, which will include at least 16 schools by 2024 — Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC and Wisconsin — the Saturday format under the new deal will be a triple-header on three different networks: Fox with the noon kickoff, CBS at 3:30 p.m. and NBC in primetime.
The conference championship games will be split among Fox (2023, 2025, 2027, 2029), CBS (2024, 2028) and NBC (2026).
According to the report, the league — which is also making a run at Notre Dame — would like to poach more Pac-12 schools to ease travel concerns for USC and UCLA.
“The Big Ten Conference media rights agreements are more than just dollars and deals. They are a mechanism to provide stability and maximum exposure for our student-athletes, member institutions and partners during these uncertain times in collegiate athletics,” Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a release Thursday.
“We are very grateful to our world-class media partners for recognizing the strength of the Big Ten Conference brand and providing the incredible resources we need for our student-athletes to compete at the very highest levels, and to achieve their academic and athletics goals.”
