Media Partners, Big Ten Schools at Odds Over Rights Deal Details; Will Issues Derail Games on NBC, Fox, Peacock?
Media Partners, Big Ten Schools at Odds Over Rights Deal Details; Will Issues Derail Games on NBC, Fox, Peacock?
It was all sunshine and roses when the Big Ten conference first announced its new media rights deal in August 2022. The conference agreed to show its football, basketball, and other sports’ games across CBS, FOX, and NBC in a pact worth a total of at least $7.5 billion that will run through the end of the 2029-30 academic year.
But nine months later — and just three months before the deal is set to begin — the details of the agreement have still not been finalized, and it could cost the conference a considerable amount of money. According to reporting from ESPN, former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren left several key points unresolved before leaving the post to become the president of the Chicago Bears. Now, new commissioner Tony Petitti is being run ragged trying to get all the issues resolved.
One big problem for Petitti is that the conference does not technically own its own broadcasting rights. They actually belong to the Big Ten Network, which effectively means all game packages sold to the various broadcast networks are sub-license agreements. That diminishes the value of the deal in general, and in particular, has left Fox upset with the conference. Fox owns a majority stake in the Big Ten Network, and became miffed that Warren sold the 2026 Big Ten title game to NBC without asking permission. To rectify that, the schools in the conference will have to pool their resources to pay back $40 million to Fox.
Schools will also have to pay Fox $25 million more for lost revenue from games canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has understandably ruffled the feathers of athletic directors and school presidents, who were further angered by the fact that the new deal also calls for Big Ten matchups to be played on primetime all season long on NBC; which will also be simulcast on Peacock.
Historically, Big Ten schools have not been required to play primetime games past the first week in November due to the threat of freezing temperatures after the sun goes down throughout the Midwest. The package was the centerpiece of the conference’s deal with NBC, however, and now Petitti must try to find a compromise between the network and his schools, with millions of dollars potentially on the line.
That means Peacock’s schedule for the 2023-24 season may be in flux. Previously, network officials worked around the unwillingness of Big Ten schools to play night games later in November. Marquee schools in the conference like Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State have given significant pushback to the concept of playing late November primetime games to the surprise of NBC, and many school officials have come forward saying a lack of communication from conference officials has left them in the dark.
“NBC was surprised, and I was surprised,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel. “We had not discussed, and I had not discussed with anyone in the league to change the tolerances we had agreed upon years ago.”
Considering how much money is still involved in the deal, there will likely be a resolution of some kind that leaves NBC and Peacock’s game package intact. But schools are likely to have to take less than originally reported from the deal, and having to pay back money to FOX will undoubtedly leave a bad taste in the mouth of the conference.
While for very different reasons, there is another traditional power conference having issues with its rights deals. The Pac-12 is struggling to find broadcasters to work with it for its next media deal, which ends after the upcoming season. ESPN recently pulled out of negotiations, and The CW stands as the only broadcast channel that might still have interest. Myriad issues are standing between the Pac-12 and its next broadcasting agreement, but the Big Ten mess may have put network executives in a “one conference at a time” headspace.
The additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten after the conclusion of the 2023-24 season will likely help ease tensions between the networks and the conference. It will give CBS, FOX, and NBC and Peacock two new blue-chip schools to put on their channels, but there’s no doubt these negotiations could have been handled better. All eyes are now on Tony Petitti, who has the unenviable task of satisfying all the schools in his conference, as well as multiple broadcasting partners.
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