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Report: ESPN to Focus on Women’s Basketball Championship Rights as Big Ten Exits Network

David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
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David Satin

The Big Ten’s four-decade relationship with ESPN is about to come to an end. Following the 2023 season, the conference will reportedly be moving on to NBC and CBS, who will join FOX in broadcasting Big Ten games.

According to a report from Front Office Sports, ESPN was offered the Series B rights for Big Ten football games for a price $380 million per season, but declined the offer. Those rights are now expected to be split between CBS, who will air a game every Saturday in the 3:30 p.m. ET timeslot, and NBC, who will follow with a prime-time matchup every Saturday night. FOX already holds the Series A rights to Big Ten broadcasts, which means that it gets first choice of games for its Big Noon Saturday window.

Although the negotiations for all those rights are not quite finalized, news of their completion could come as early as the end of this week. Unless Disney — ESPN’s parent company — has a dramatic change of heart, the 2023 season will mark the end of the Big Ten on ESPN.

That means that the sports giant will have to refocus its efforts in order to keep pace. The negotiations for the rights to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament are coming up following the 2024 season, and ESPN is committed to ensuring that those rights stay on the cabler’s airwaves. Currently, ESPN pays $34 million per year for the March Madness tournament, as well as 28 other Division I Championships.

That price tag may be about to skyrocket, however. With women’s basketball ratings climbing, by 2025 the rights to the tournament alone could be worth $81-$112 million per year. The NCAA has stated that it is considering selling those rights as a standalone product, meaning that the collegiate sports governing body has surely noticed what an incredible deal ESPN is currently getting. FSO reports that ESPN is committed to providing a platform for women’s sports, but as those sports gain popularity, ESPN will have to put its money where its corporate values are.

Despite losing out on the Big Ten, ESPN will hardly be a football wasteland after 2023. ESPN signed an exclusive 10-year rights deal with the SEC that begins in 2024-25, which includes both the 3:30 pm ET and primetime windows. According to the Athletic, ESPN paid $300 million for those rights, which at least partially explains why they weren’t willing to shell out for the Big Ten, who were asking for even more money.

The network is also expected to invest in the upcoming Big 12 and Pac-12 media rights in order to fill the gaps left by the exiting Big Ten.

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David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Read full bio ›
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