The Big Ten has officially signed new media rights contracts with Fox, CBS and NBC that will bring in more than $7 billion over the next seven years and further change the landscape of college football.
After the Southeastern Conference bolted from CBS for a lucrative deal with ESPN, the Big Ten saw an opportunity to take advantage. With the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins set to join the conference in 2024, the value for television rights exploded in negotiations.
Reports first surfaced in May that the Big 10 was negotiating new media rights contracts with three partners that would be worth at least $1 billion per year. It all became official on Thursday, with CBS Sports, the Big Ten Conference, Fox and ESPN all announcing the new agreement.
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- Big Ten TV partners: B1G Network, CBS, Foz Sports, NBC Sports, Peacock, Fox Sports 1, ESPN
“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. 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.”
Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren on new TV rights deals
The seven-year deals will go into effect for the 2023 season, covering the conference through 2023 and setting it up to bring in even more revenue in the years ahead.
According to ESPN, the Big 10 projects to distribute between $80-$100 million per year to each of its 16 members. For comparison, per USA Today, it provided $54.3 million to a majority of its members during the 2019-’20 fiscal year.
The official announcement is expected to have major ramifications on the college football broadcast schedule in the years ahead.
Examining the new Big Ten TV schedule
One of the biggest differences, the iconic 3:30 window every football Saturday on CBS will no longer have SEC games beginning in 2024. Instead, that slot will go to one of the best Big 10 games that is on the schedule for that week.
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Fox will remain the Big Ten’s primary broadcast partner, covering a majority of the games and getting preference for which matchups it wants to broadcast. However, Fox, CBS and NBC will be required to divide up future Big Ten football championship games.
| TV network | Big Ten Championship Games |
| FOX | 20223, 2025, 2027, 2029 |
| CBS | 2024, 2028 |
| NBC | 2026 |
In regards to specific scheduling for the 2023 season and beyond, Fox will carry games that begin at 12 PM ET and that will continue in 2024. While NBC will only broadcast one conference championship game, it does gain the broadcasting rights to the Big 10 games in primetime under the new broadcast “Big Ten Saturday Night”
According to ESPN, the seven-year contract will see Fox broadcast 24-32 conference games per season, with NBC receiving 14-16 games and CBS carrying 14-15 Big Ten games per season. As for the Big 10 Network, it will still receive a maximum of 50 games per season.
College football fans will still get to find everything where they are used to seeing it for the upcoming season. Once the changes start going into effect in 2023 and ’24, it will become just the latest example of how one of the most popular sports in the United States is changing.