The Big Ten’s New Media Rights Deal Has Been Announced

Today the Big Ten announced the completion of its long-awaited television rights deal that is set to go into effect at the start of the 2023-24 academic year. The deal runs for 7 years and is worth nearly $7.5 billion in total. Notably, it also contains escalators in case the conference expands even further than the already announced additions of USC and UCLA. As is typically the case, the payouts are backloaded and it is reported there is a significant jump in the payout between Year 2 and Year 3 of the deal.

A total of six different outlets will broadcast Big Ten sporting events: Fox (their primary rights holder), CBS, NBC, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Big Ten Network (BTN) and Peacock (the Big Ten’s first exclusive relationship with a streaming service). Notably missing from the list of broadcasters is ESPN, who announced they backed out of the bidding a week ago. It will be the first time since 1982 that ESPN has not held any rights to Big Ten sports.

For those wondering where and when they will see Big Ten football and men’s basketball once the new deal begins, here are the details as they have been announced so far. Keep in mind that the increase in the number of broadcasts after the first season is because of the additional inventory of games available once USC and UCLA join for the 2024 season.

Football

• Three over-the-air broadcast networks, Fox, CBS and NBC, will each have an exclusive window in which they will air Big Ten football games, consuming nearly 11 hours of Big Ten football on a major network. This closely mirrors the NFL’s weekly Sunday lineup. It is estimated that CBS and NBC are each paying $350 million per season for their package of games.

• Fox will air 10-14 games primarily in its favored noon ET window, immediately after its Big Noon Kickoff pregame show.

• CBS will air 7 games in 2023, then up to 15 games per season beginning in 2024, at 3:30pm ET. The reason for fewer games in ’23 is due to their pre-existing contract to air SEC games at 3:30 that ends with the 2023 season.

• NBC will air 14-16 games per season, most at 7:30pm ET, to be billed as Big Ten Saturday Night. Many weeks this game will follow NBC’s broadcast of Notre Dame home games.

• The three networks will spilt the Big Ten Championship Game, with Fox airing it in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029, CBS in 2024 and 2028, and NBC in 2026.

• It is expected Fox will run a “draft” where the networks select all of the available inventory. As the primary rights-holder, Fox likely gets top pick each year, so expect Michigan vs Ohio State will always be on Fox at noon ET. That also means there will be weeks where CBS and NBC come away with the best game. There also could be weeks where broadcast windows are swapped. For instance, in 2023 and (presumably) 2024 Fox will probably want the Red River Rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas, which it currently shares rights to with ESPN through ’24, in its prime noon window. To compensate, CBS could end up taking a Big Ten game in that noon spot, especially in 2023 when they would have an SEC game to show at 3:30. For NBC, they usually like to have one or two Notre Dame games in the prime time window, so they may switch windows with CBS occasionally as well.

• Fox Sports 1 will continue to air at least one game each week. What time slot is not yet known, though I think it unlikely they want to overlap with CBS and NBC’s windows, given what the conference was able to extract from them in money. I would wager most FS1 games will be in the noon ET window, but once USC and UCLA join FS1 could have several games a season in the late night window (10:30pm ET) as well.

• BTN will have 38-41 games per season in Year 1, and up to 50 games per season in the remaining years. They will likely continue to air their games in several windows throughout the day.

• Peacock will have 8 exclusive games per season, meaning they will not be available for viewing anywhere else. Peacock will also simulcast all games shown on NBC. Likewise all games on CBS will be simulcast on its streaming subsidiary, Paramount+.

• I have not yet seen confirmed reporting on Friday night games. I have good reason to believe that the Friday night games will at least continue as currently scheduled: one on each of the first six weeks of the season, and the Iowa-Nebraska afternoon game on Black Friday. I would not be at all surprised if there are 1-2 more games on Black Friday. That’s an opportunity for exclusivity that the Big Ten would probably like to jump on, even with Amazon having an NFL game on Prime that day. (EDIT: per The Athletic, there will be two games on Black Friday; an afternoon game on CBS and a prime time game on NBC)

Basketball

• Fox and FS1 will combine to broadcast 45-47 men’s basketball games in the 2023-24 season, and at least that many in subsequent seasons (again, there will be more games to show with USC/UCLA added). However, neither will be airing any Big Ten Tournament games, likely due to conflict with the Big East tournament which they hold rights to.

• BTN will have a minimum of 126 men’s basketball games annually, including eight Big Ten tournament games prior to the semifinals and championship.

• Peacock will show 32 men’s basketball games in 2023–24 (20 of them conference matchups) and 47 per season thereafter (32 conference games). They will also have an opening-night doubleheader of Big Ten tournament games.

• Both BTN and Peacock will have a heavy slate of women’s basketball games and Olympic sports.

• CBS will continue its long-standing relationship with Big Ten Basketball, showing 9–11 games in ’23–’24, increasing to 15 per season thereafter. Thirteen of those games from ’24 to ’30 will be conference games. CBS will also get the semifinals and championship game of the Big Ten tournament, as well as the women’s tournament title game.

In summary, this is a groundbreaking deal for a college conference. For all the criticism Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has received since taking over – some justified, some not – he hit a home run with this deal. I mentioned above how this deal resembles the NFL’s broadcast structure, and it is no coincidence Warren came to the Big Ten after 21 years in the NFL.

The money will eclipse the SEC’s deal with ESPN that is set to begin in 2024, and the Big Ten will be able to go back to the market to renew their deal four years before the SEC’s next deal expires. It was estimated that the SEC’s new deal would distribute $40 million per year in TV revenue to each member; though that was before it was announced Oklahoma and Texas would join, so that number will certainly tick a little higher once they join in 2025, though nothing has been announced money-wise with regard to that. Meanwhile, the Big Ten will distribute an average of about $75 million in TV money to its member schools, which includes USC and UCLA once they join.

If you are a fan of a Big Ten school, today was a great day for the financial well-being of your school’s athletic programs.