The College Football Playoffs are big business and Fox is thinking about making it a part of its sports coverage.
According to a report from Front Office Sports, Fox is considering a “massive” bid to take some or all of the championship away from ESPN when negotiations begin in 2026.
ESPN got huge ratings for the College Football Semifinals on Monday, with the Michigan 27-20 win against Alabama getting 27. 2 million viewers. It peaked at 32.8 million.
Washington’s 37-31 win over Texas had 18.4 million viewers.
The most-watched College Football Playoff championship game was in 2014 when Ohio State beat Oregon 42-20, which got 34.148 million viewers. Fox would love to get those viewers and, according to the FOS report, is building up money to get in the game for other rights negotiations.
Related: How many college football national championships have Washington and Michigan won?
Fox wants to expand coverage to College Football Playoffs
Fox joined CBS and NBC to offer the Big Ten more than $7 billion for a seven-year media rights agreement that will begin in the next school year.
The three networks will broadcast Big Ten football championship games, but Fox is the primary broadcast partner and has the 2025, 2027 and 2029 games. CBS will air the 2024 and 2028 games, and NBC has 2026.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the company will likely not bid on the NBA when those negotiations open.
Related: College Football Playoffs were the most watched since 2014