CBS and NBC are officially in as Big Ten TV partners, and ESPN is officially out.
After months of negotiations, the Big Ten officially announced its new television deal on Thursday, which will feature Big Ten football games on three different national broadcast networks – Fox, CBS and NBC – beginning in 2023 and running through the 2029-30 season.
Per the new deal, Fox will remain the Big Ten’s primary rightsholder and will broadcast one of the conference’s top games at noon each week, with Big Noon Saturday becoming an exclusive broadcast window for the Big Ten under the new contract. Fox will also air games on FS1 and on Big Ten Network, in which it holds a 60 percent stake. A total of 24-27 Big Ten football games will air on Fox and FS1 on 2023, a number that will increase to 30-32 games from 2024-29, while BTN will air at least 38-41 games each year.
CBS and NBC will also broadcast Big Ten games on their national networks each week. CBS’ 3:30 p.m. time slot will become an exclusive broadcast window for Big Ten games in 2024 following the end of CBS’ contract with the SEC, which is partnering exclusively with ESPN and ABC beginning in 2024. For the 2023 season, CBS will air seven Big Ten football games, a number that will expand to 14-15 regular-season games from 2024-29, including an annual Black Friday afternoon game.
Hello, @B1Gfootball.
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) August 18, 2022
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NBC, which is also the exclusive broadcaster of Notre dame home games, will air Big Ten games in primetime on its national network. A total of 14-16 Big Ten games will air on NBC each year, including a Black Friday primetime game and a Labor Day Sunday primetime game, while an additional eight regular-season Big Ten football games will be streamed exclusively on Peacock.
All three networks will have rights to the Big Ten Championship Game on an alternating basis. The conference title game will air on Fox in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029, on CBS in 2024 and 2028 and on NBC in 2026.
Fox and FS1 will broadcast at least 45 Big Ten men’s basketball games each year with the opportunity to also carry women’s basketball games and Olympic sports competitions. CBS will continue to air up to 15 regular season men’s basketball games, the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament semifinals and final and the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament championship game.
Big Ten Network will broadcast a minimum of 126 men’s basketball games and the first two rounds of the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament along with a minimum of 49 women’s basketball and the first three rounds of the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament. Peacock will exclusively stream 47 regular-season men’s basketball games beginning in 2024 (32 in 2023) and 30 women’s basketball games each year.
According to a report by Sports Business Journal’s Michael Smith, the seven-year deal is worth $8.05 billion.
“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 commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement. “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.”
When the new deal begins next year, it will mark the first time ESPN has not broadcast Big Ten football games since 1982 and the first time ABC has not broadcast Big Ten football since 1966.
