Big East set to unveil six-year media deals

[Kirk Van Houten]

Sources: Big East set to unveil six-year media deals

The Big East is on the verge of signing a new media-rights agreement with several networks that will span six years, sources said.

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

The Big East is on the cusp of formally signing a new set of six-year media rights pacts as soon as this week with Fox, NBC and TNT that will begin with the 2025-26 school year (taking it through the 2031-32 term), sources tell SBJ. Financial terms were still being finalized at presstime, but sources noted the conference will see a significant rights fee uptick. Fox and CBS have one more school year remaining on a 12-year, $500M deal with the Big East (an average annual value of around $41.67M).

Fox will continue as the lead “A” network in the new deal, as it had when it initially signed on with the Big East prior to the 2013-14 school year. Sources tell SBJ the rankings for selections of games have already been decided among the conference’s new media partners. CBS, which had long been a Big East partner, will not return with the conference, as the sides were not able to carve out a smaller fourth package of rights, per sources.

Non-Power Four league media deals nearing expiration:
• Horizon League (deal with ESPN ends after 2025-26)
• Mountain West (deal with CBS and Fox expires after 2025-26)
• Conference USA (deals with CBS and ESPN end after 2026-27)
• West Coast Conference (deal with ESPN ends after 2026-27)

Could easily see TNT Sports get one or two deals done there since they're almost 100% out of the NBA.

Click to read more...

 

[PCSPounder]

So I learned a couple things from this and a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article.

(1) The Big East was already making at least as much as the Mountain West Conference, which is kind of significant because MWC football has its moments and a couple significant fan bases.

(2) The Big East expects a significant bump with the new deal. I’ll try to think in terms of percentages instead of multiples.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

The Big East should split along geographic lines, with the Northeastern schools keeping the Big East name and legacy, and adding Duquesne, La Salle, and Saint Joseph's from the A-10 and Iona from the MAAC.

The Midwestern schools in the Big East would form a new conference that would also include Dayton, Loyola (Chicago), and Saint Louis from the A-10, Valparaiso from the MVC, Detroit Mercy from the Horizon League, and Gonzaga and Saint Mary's from the WCC.

The idea here is to greatly decimate the A-10 and the WCC, two of the top mid-major conferences in basketball, with the Horizon League, MAAC, and MVC being affected to a lesser degree.

In this scenario, the new conference formed around the Midwestern Big East schools could sign a media rights deal with ESPN.

The new conference is supposed to be a primarily Midwestern conference with similar strength in basketball to another primarily Midwestern conference, the Big Ten, with ESPN using this new conference to replace the latter in basketball season. Bonus points for having schools in two of the same West Coast states that the Big Ten will have schools in.

The WCC's next TV deal would be severely impacted by the loss of Gonzaga and Saint Mary's, along with the end of Oregon State and Washington State's temporary alliance with the WCC in favor of pursuing a Pac-12/MW merger, as the MW is a stronger overall men's basketball conference than the WCC.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Big East announces deals with Fox, NBC, TNT

The new Big East media rights deal is official, and as previously reported will include NBC and TNT alongside the returning FOX.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

It's official: The Big East has reached a six-year media rights deal with incumbent Fox Sports and newcomers NBC Sports and TNT Sports, it was announced Thursday. While the new deal does not go fully into effect until the 2025-26 season, the NBC streaming service Peacock will begin its tenure this coming season, carrying a 30-game schedule of men’s basketball games that will include five Big East Tournament matchups. (maybe this are the CBS games)

Once the deal goes fully into effect in 2025, Peacock and NBC will combine for a 60-game slate of men’s and women’s regular season and tournament games. The TNT Sports platforms will combine for 65 games per season, including more than 50 men’s games, with most airing on TNT and others carried by TBS and truTV. All TNT Sports games will stream on Max. The 65-game schedule will be the most extensive slate of college basketball yet carried by the networks once known as Turner Sports.

Fox will remain the lead broadcast partner with an 80-game schedule of men’s and women’s games. It will continue to carry the men’s Big East Tournament final. No network was specified for the women’s final, an indication that it may well air on one of the other broadcast partners. In total, the deal calls for at least 150 men’s and as many as 65 women’s basketball games to be carried by the networks.

The deal also includes the other Big East sports, including soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and volleyball. Many of those contests have been streaming on FloSports, with occasional games and championship events on the Fox networks. It was not immediately clear how much would change in the new deal. NBC’s deal is for men’s and women’s basketball only.

 

[PCSPounder]

Big East announces deals with Fox, NBC, TNT

The new Big East media rights deal is official, and as previously reported will include NBC and TNT alongside the returning FOX.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

It's official: The Big East has reached a six-year media rights deal with incumbent Fox Sports and newcomers NBC Sports and TNT Sports, it was announced Thursday. While the new deal does not go fully into effect until the 2025-26 season, the NBC streaming service Peacock will begin its tenure this coming season, carrying a 30-game schedule of men’s basketball games that will include five Big East Tournament matchups. (maybe this are the CBS games)

Once the deal goes fully into effect in 2025, Peacock and NBC will combine for a 60-game slate of men’s and women’s regular season and tournament games. The TNT Sports platforms will combine for 65 games per season, including more than 50 men’s games, with most airing on TNT and others carried by TBS and truTV. All TNT Sports games will stream on Max. The 65-game schedule will be the most extensive slate of college basketball yet carried by the networks once known as Turner Sports.

Fox will remain the lead broadcast partner with an 80-game schedule of men’s and women’s games. It will continue to carry the men’s Big East Tournament final. No network was specified for the women’s final, an indication that it may well air on one of the other broadcast partners. In total, the deal calls for at least 150 men’s and as many as 65 women’s basketball games to be carried by the networks.

The deal also includes the other Big East sports, including soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and volleyball. Many of those contests have been streaming on FloSports, with occasional games and championship events on the Fox networks. It was not immediately clear how much would change in the new deal. NBC’s deal is for men’s and women’s basketball only.

$480 million over 6 years.

Better money than the Mountain West, and from what I’m reading, about as much as Oregon State and Washington State are supposed to expect.

But just as much the point… not being paid to expand further west. Not being paid to kill emerging conferences. That’s not enough money to cover certain travel increases. They’re getting paid to cover major ETZ and CTZ markets, full stop.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Not sure how much money they can get without football honestly