Starting this year, college football TV media deals within conferences are becoming more individual with a single TV partner. Previously, conferences would work primarily with a single TV partner but still have secondary rights or options with another channel. For example, the Big 10 was primarily a FOX-affiliated conference; however, ESPN still picked up a large number of games every year until last year when the Big 10 signed a deal with CBS.
In a typical weekend, the Big 10 would have their biggest game or two on FOX, their next two games on the ESPN networks, and the rest either on The Big 10 Network or streaming. The SEC, Big 12, and many G5 conferences had similar deals.
Not anymore.
3 of the 4 P4 Conferences Now Have Exclusive Deals
The new deals (which are paying a ton of money), no longer share rights with multiple conferences. The Big 10 no longer works with ESPN, and the SEC no longer works with FOX. Below are the media deals that each conference has:
- SEC: 10-year deal with ESPN, which includes ABC, ESPN Networks (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+), and the SEC Network
- Big 10: 5-year exclusive deal with NBC, CBS, and FOX. These channels can include NBC Sports, CBS Sports, TruTV, FS1, FS2, Big 10 Network. Each main channel will pick up one game each Saturday. The details of games after that are a bit fuzzy and unclear.
- ACC: 20-year deal (started in 2016) with ESPN networks. They also added a deal last year with the CW to stream 50 football/basketball games throughout the year.
The coverage will get very interesting without any crossover between these three conferences. But one conference is still working with the rival channels: The Big 12.
Will ESPN and Fox Recognize the Other College Football Conferences?
It is now in FOX’s best interest to talk up the Big 10 as the best conference in the country. To them, the SEC and ACC, to an extent, are the enemy, and for ESPN, the Big 10 is the enemy. Again, this is the first time we’ve really seen this. At least last year, CBS shared rights to both the SEC and Big 10, and before that, there was more crossover between the two networks. Additionally, the Pac-12 was an ESPN/FOX affiliate, meaning it was tougher to isolate other conferences since there was so much crossover across the sport.
Now, with just the Big 12 being an affiliate with the two, College Gameday and ESPN throughout the week may go very SEC heavy, promoting and building up that conference, while Big Noon Kickoff and Fox Sports’ weekly programming will do the same for the Big 10.
It’s possible that at the same moment, Kirk Herbstreit will be discussing five SEC teams in the AP Top 10 projections while Brady Quinn is on Big Noon Kickoff, saying there should only be two teams in the AP Top 10.
Say what you want about polls and committees not being influenced by what they hear on TV, but they are. They are human and what they hear on TV will have some kind of impact on how they view teams and rank them. From a ratings-only standpoint, that will favor the SEC/ACC, and, to some extent, the Big 12.
Will the Big 12 Bring Balance or Be Buried?
The Big 12 finds themselves in a very interesting position. Rather than going exclusive with a single media partner or being the only media partner of other networks, the Big 12 has decided to join FOX and ESPN as the only P4 conference to have crossover.
In this deal, ESPN gets 60% of the inventory. However, FOX gets a nice chunk and preferential picking during basketball, which is huge because the Big 12 is by far the best basketball conference in the country. This alone will make FOX want to downgrade the Big 12 conference during football season because they will want to promote basketball once football season comes around. It can also be valuable since the FOX and ESPN can run late window games with BYU, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State, and Colorado all further west.
The question becomes, will each channel elevate the Big 12 or bury it? The Big 12 is a small pie for both networks or about 15% of their football budget. On the contrary, if they can elevate the conference, they could run relevant games all day long on their channels.
What About G5 Contracts?
There aren’t any G5 TV deals that are going to move the needle. With each P4 team getting well over $25 million per year and most G5 schools getting less than $$$ per year, it’s very unlikely that FOX, CBS, ESPN, or others will change their viewpoint as a whole of opposing P4 conferences. The one exception, of course, would be if a G5 school upsets a P4 school from the opposing conference. For example, if Nevada (CBS/Big 10) were to beat SMU (ACC/ESPN), you better believe FOX will run with that story.
