In the first domino to fall since the Big Ten’s new deal was announced, the Big 12 has extended its media rights deals with ESPN and Fox through the end of this decade.
The Big 12 has reached a six-year media rights extension with ESPN and Fox Sports worth $380 million/year, Sports Business Journal reported Sunday. ESPN, the Associated Press and The Athletic have reported the same. The new rights fee is a considerable increase over the average of $220 million/year in the current deal. The new deal kicks in with the 2024-25 season and runs through 2030-31.
The news comes two months after the conference announced that it would begin talks on an extension more than a year ahead of schedule.
The future of the Big 12 and Pac-12 had been called into question after both schools lost marquee programs to the SEC and Big Ten, respectively. That the Big 12 was able to nearly double its existing rights fee despite the loss of Texas and Oklahoma should put that talk to bed.
Per Sports Business Journal, ESPN has the “A” package of games that includes the football and basketball championship games and the majority of top game picks. The Fox Sports “B” package, per ESPN, includes the addition of Big 12 basketball games.
In other college media rights news, the San Jose Mercury-News reported Friday that the Big Ten media rights deal is worth a maximum of $1 billion per year, slightly below the numbers that were originally reported. The difference, per the report, comes out to about $10 million less per school per year.
As for the Pac-12, the same publication reported earlier in the week that the possibility of Amazon purchasing a portion of rights is increasingly likely. With the Big 12 deal, the Pac-12 is the only major conference available whose rights are soon up for bid.
(Nielsen estimates from Sports Business Journal 10.30, ESPN 10.30, AP 10.30, The Athletic 10.30, San Jose Mercury-News 10.25, 10.28)
