Report: ESPN is out in Big Ten media negotiations
So long, ABC night game with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.
It appears that Disney’s sports package, ESPN and ABC, is officially out of the running when it comes to the Big Ten’s revamped media package. ESPN has long held the conference’s rights, running second to Fox since the last negotiation, and has broadcast games from the Big Ten for the past 40 years. While that won’t take place immediately, as the current deal expires in 2023, the Sports Business Journal reports who will carry games alongside Fox once the seas part.
Barring a last-minute change of direction in the Big Ten’s media rights negotiations, ESPN will be without the conference’s football and basketball games for the first time in 40 years. With Big Ten negotiations nearing an end — I’m told agreements could be reached by the end of this week or push into next — CBS and NBC have emerged as the clear front runners to pick up Big Ten rights alongside Fox Sports.
That said, the last-minute change at this point is that ESPN has walked.
ESPN has pulled out of Big Ten media rights negotiations, ending one of the longest sports media relationships in the business. ESPN said no to the conference’s final offer of a 7-year/$380 million per-year package, sources tell SBJ.
Story to be filed soon.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) August 9, 2022
As of current, ESPN is the sole broadcaster of the College Football Playoff. Of course, should Big Ten teams enter, then they will again be on the Disney family of networks once again. The conference has been one who has pushed to decentralize playoff broadcasting, meaning other networks would have a shot, much like the Super Bowl. It will be interesting to see if ESPN being out in the cold will help expedite that process or if it’ll batten down the hatches that much more to retain the exclusivity in that regard.
Still, it will be interesting to see Big Ten games on CBS and NBC, in addition to Fox. According to John Ourand (in the article linked above), NBC is interested in carrying the primetime games for the Big Ten, while its streaming service, Peacock, would also carry some games.
