Gotcha. Does ESPN/Disney have enough juice left to call these kind of shots or are they just along for the ride? ESPN seems to be in a decline, no? Plus wasn't the Longhorn network an espn deal also so are they just moving money from one account to another?
Again, I really don't know but from what little ive paid attention I got the impression ESPN couldn't get out of its own way the last couple years. Losing talent and ratings at a pretty good clip I thought, but could be wrong. Is ABC the head of that snake or is it Disney?
Are most of the Big 10 games on the regional Fox Sports networks?
Hey Displaced Vol, maybe one too many Titos and blackberry ice last night. Just a tad over, perhaps?
I find your posts to be among the more balanced and intelligent in this forum. This is a long one.
I think there is a lot involved here, NIL, scheduled changes and developments in media rights regarding college football, but also other sports, NCAA incompetence (and increasing irrelevance, ultimately terminal?). NASCAR expansion could be an interesting comparison. Sankey (and ESPN is co-leading or following at a minimum) decided to try and claim a first-mover advantage (more below). Let me respond to your questions and elaborate further. After all, it's July 31. Can;t wait for Fall camps to start next week so we all can move on -- for now.
No, Big Ten games aren't on Fox regional networks. Fox Sports, owned by Fox, Inc., as is Fox News, sold off those networks a few years ago. The Big Ten currently has a media rights deal with Fox Sports and ESPN. It was a $3.1 B deal signed in 2017, expires 2024. Big Ten/Fox Sports also owns BTN (Big Ten Network). The SEC's deal with CBS ends in 2023, and it signed a 10 year media rights deal with ESPN as its exclusive partner. That is a $3 B deal. SEC/ESPN also owns the SEC Network. ESPN also owns the ACC Network and is the exclusive media rights partner in a deal that doesn't end until 2036. Fox and ESPN also own media rights to Big 12 (ends 2025) and PAC 12 (ends 2024). Both the Big Ten and PAC 12 media rights deals with both Fox and ESPN (Fox owns @ 75% of both) expiring in 2024, given the Big Ten' and PAC 12's traditional relatoinship, including similar academic and research focus, AAU membership requirements (unlike the SEC, Big 12, and to a lesser extent the ACC, the Big Ten and PAC 12 are not solely athletic conferences, they also serve as academic alliances and research consortiums for the member universities. The Big Ten in 2019 generated almost $12 billion in research revenue, while athletics generated $2 billion). So, I think the Big Ten will try to strike either some kind of scheduling arrangement with the PAC 12 or some form of merger or acquistion by the Big Ten. There's also just more of a cultural fit for the "bow ties" of both conferences. I see the SEC eventually acquiring Clemson, FSU, Miami, and probably at least one more ACC school. But that ACC grant of rights goes to 2036, so those will be expensive.
ESPN's role in this is troublesome. Yes, The Walt Disney Company is the common parent corporation of an affiliated group of media, film, and entertainment businesses. It owns ABC, which owns ESPN. The common parent ultimately calls the shots and is informed., if you know what's good for your career.
In 2020, the Big Ten paid out $54.3 M to each school, next was the SEC at $45.5 M (that's probably going up to $60 M in 2023, but 14 members + 2 new come 2025 or sooner). So, that's the top tier by far. Big 12 was at $38 M (but both Fox and ESPN declined to exercise early negotiation rights for a new deal earlier this year, so they were both getting out come 2025). PAC 12 and ACC were both @ $33 M (ACC stuck with that bad deal with ESPN until 2036!!!!!! PAC 12 out in 2024, but it's got to get something with the Big Ten to survive as a P5 football conference.) That Big Ten deal ends in 2024 (as does the PAC 12's). I think Fox pays big for an exclusive deal. It would be coast-to-coast and relegate the SEC/ESPN to regional. But, cable, Direct TV, Dish, etc., those are "linear" networks. I cut the cord and stream. Many others have, and more do so each day. Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, You Tube TV, etc. are where I think it's all going. I'd much rather partner with the very deep pockets of Amazon than ESPN and that should be clearer come 2024.
I don't blame OU or UT. They were the only reason for the Big 12 getting what it was getting, and after both Fox and ESPN declined early renegotiation rights, the writing was on the wall.
I think that's the landscape and we might just end up come mid/late 2020s with sort of an NFL type set up. Two conferences - one, former Big Ten and PAC 12 schools, probably a few former ACC schools, and another former SEC, Big 12, and ACC schools.
The irony is, I really believe Greg Sankey engaged in unethical behavior, and so did ESPN (and ESPN's may very well rise to the level of breach of contract, tortious interference, or even federal unfair trade practices vs either its contractual partner the Big 12 and/or Fox Sports). He was a part of a 4 member sub-committee of the CFP, along with Bob Bowlsby the Big 12 commissioner. The SEC, OU, UT started working on this back in Dec/Jan. ESPN had to know. Sankey obviously knew. He keeps this from Bowlsby the whole time, they work out an expansion plan to 12 (which would only benefit the SEC and maybe the Big Ten), they announce that expansion in June, and then OU and UT and the SEC drop the bomb in July during Big 12 media days. Well, that expansion isn't going to happen now. Sankey's unethical behavior torpedoed the plan he manipulated.
CFP media rights are up at the end of the 2025-26 season.
