The Big Ten completed a historic media rights deal with multiple broadcast partners, the conference announced Thursday.
What You Need To Know
- Fox will share Big Ten coverage with CBS, NBC, NBCUniversal Peacock after 2022
- Media rights deal includes football, men’s and women’s basketball and Olympic sports
- Big Ten Football championship will rotate between networks
- Deal expires after 2029-30 football season
While financial terms were not disclosed, the deals with Fox, CBS, NBC and NBCUniversal’s Peacock are reportedly worth $7 billion over the life of the seven-year deal, according to ESPN.
“The Big Ten Conference media rights agreements are more than just dollars and deals,” said Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren. “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.”
“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.”
Fox, the conference’s current rights holder, will continue to air Big Ten games until the new agreement kicks in in July 2023. The deal runs through the 2029-2030 season.
In the first year of the deal, CBS will air seven Big Ten football games before moving to a full 15-game schedule the following season. CBS is limited in the first season because of an existing deal with the SEC, which expires after 2023.
NBC will air as many as 16 Big Ten games in prime time starting in the 2023 season. Its Peacock streaming service will also air eight football games and as many as 47 men’s basketball games and 30 women’s basketball games.
Fox is expected to continue airing games at noon on Saturdays, with CBS taking the 3:30 slot and NBC airing at 8, guaranteeing no shortage of Big Ten football exposure nationally throughout the day, along with the conference’s existing Big Ten Network coverage.
The 2024 season coincides with another major shift for the Big Ten, as UCLA and USC join the conference at that time.
The conference championship game, which has been exclusive to Fox since its debut in 2011, will be shared with the new partners in the deal. CBS will air the title game in 2024 and 2028, while NBC will broadcast the 2026 game. Fox, as the primary partner, will air the remaining four.
