The Big East media rights deals with incumbent Fox and newcomers NBC and TNT Sports are reportedly at the goal line, with CBS set to drop out entirely.
The Big East will reportedly sign a new set of media rights agreements with Fox, NBC, and TNT Sports as soon as this week, per a report Monday in Sports Business Journal. The new rights deals are set for a six-year term to begin in the 2025-26 school year. Fox will continue to be the conference’s lead partner in the new set of deals, while the other incumbent CBS has opted to forego a new deal entirely. Per the report, the conference was unable to carve out a smaller fourth package of games for CBS.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though “the conference will see a significant rights fee uptick” from the $41.67m per year it currently receives from Fox and CBS.
TNT Sports continues its buying spree amid the likelihood that it loses NBA rights following the 2024-25 season. The network has recently inked deals to broadcast the French Open and sublicense College Football Playoff games from ESPN. Additonally, TNT signed a deal late last year to air a handful of summer NASCAR races. Though the network has aired the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in partnership with CBS since 2011, the Big East deal will be the only regular season college hoops inventory for TNT Sports.
As for NBC, previous reporting suggests that most of its Big East inventory will be distributed through Peacock rather than the network’s linear properties. NBC is likely to add the package of NBA games that currently belong to TNT Sports starting in the 2025-26 season.
