Big Ten announces new media rights deal worth over $7 billion

The Big Ten announced a new seven-year media rights deal on Thursday worth more than $7 billion total.

The deal is wide-sweeping and will use several broadcast partners including Fox, CBS, and NBC, including some athletic events streaming on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock. The deal is set to begin on July 1, 2023, and run all the way through 2029-30. In a release, the conference confirmed that Fox will take the Noon games, CBS the 3:30 pm slot beginning in 2024 when its SEC deal ends, and NBC will take night games that will be called “Big Ten Saturday Night.”

In addition to these timeslots, all three networks will have a hand in broadcasting future Big Ten football championship games. Fox will have rights to broadcast the game in 2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029. CBS will have the game in 2024 and 2028, and NBC will bring the game to fans in 2026.

The news is a huge win for the Big Ten and dwarfs any media rights deal by any conference to date. The money pouring in is expected to provide more than enough money to distribute to the conference’s member institutions, including UCLA and USC when they both join the league in 2024.

“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 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.

“The new rights agreements are an incredible achievement for our entire conference and a true testament of what can be accomplished with teamwork,” stated Commissioner Warren. “I am incredibly grateful for collaborative efforts and hard work of our conference staff, specifically Laura Anderson, Anil Gollahalli, Kerry Kenny and Adam Neuman, our presidents and chancellors, athletics directors, coaches, student-athletes, and our partners at CBS, NBC and FOX Sports for solidifying unprecedented Big Ten access across transformative media companies for our fans to tune-in and follow the Big Ten content they love.”

For their part, the television partners that exclude ESPN for the first time since 1982, were also excited about the agreement.

“We are proud to expand upon our long-standing partnership with the Big Ten Conference and further bolster our position as the premier rights holder of the conference,” said FOX Sports Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer, Eric Shanks. “Commissioner Warren’s leadership and vision have resulted in the growth and recent market expansion of the Big Ten Conference. In an ever-evolving landscape, the Big Ten remains the most storied collegiate athletic conference in the country.”

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Kevin Warren and the Big Ten Conference on this robust package of sports,” said Pete Bevacqua, Chairman, NBC Sports. “With Big Ten Saturday Night and Sunday Night Football headlining each fall weekend in primetime on NBC and Peacock, along with our historic Notre Dame Football partnership, NBC Sports will be the home of premier games in college football and the NFL. In addition, with the rights to a wide range of Big Ten events, Peacock and NBC Sports will be a year-round destination for the best in college sports.”

Bottom line — this is an absolutely massive deal for the Big Ten.

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