Big 12 scores big win by renewing media rights deal with ESPN, Fox
BY MICHAEL SMITH AND JOHN OURAND
Sunday, October 30, 2022
The once-beleaguered Big 12 has stabilized its future by coming to terms with ESPN and Fox Sports on a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28B, an annual average of $380M, according to sources. The Big 12 has two years remaining on its current deal, which runs through the 2024-25 season at an annual average of $220M in its final years. The new six-year extension runs through 2030-31.
The agreement represents a big win for the Big 12 and new commissioner Brett Yormark, who since starting his job on Aug. 1 immediately began plotting to get a new deal done with the Big 12’s incumbents, ESPN and Fox. The problem was that the Big 12’s exclusive negotiating window with those networks did not begin until February 2024, so the conference convinced the networks to start negotiating an extension early by telling them that any talks would not trigger the exclusive window. But Yormark moved quickly to get deals done with both ESPN and Fox in fewer than three months.
The Big 12’s ability to not only strike a new contract with the two networks, but also to generate a substantial raise in the rights fee, was considered a serious longshot last year when conference bluebloods Texas and Oklahoma said they would leave the Big 12 for the SEC. At that stage, the Big 12’s future appeared bleak and the forecasts from industry insiders said the Big 12 could see its media rights revenue cut in half with the loss of its two highest-profile schools, even as the conference, then under the direction of former commissioner Bob Bowlsby, moved swiftly to expand its footprint by adding four schools.
When Yormark took the Big 12’s reins on Aug. 1, he hired media consultants at Endeavor and IMG Media to assist in negotiating extensions and the Big 12’s fortunes rebounded when they were able to reach an agreement in recent days that will see a 72.7% increase in the average annual value of its current deal, which started in 2012. The difference between the rights fee ESPN and Fox will pay from the last year of the old deal in 2024-25 and the first year of the new deal in 2025-26 is much more modest.
In striking these deals prior to the exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Fox, the Big 12 managed to achieve several of its primary objectives, namely stability and security, the ability to go back to its 12 member schools to seek an extended grant of rights and a leg up on any future conference expansion. The conference also likes the idea that the shorter six-year deal that runs through 2031 means that the Big 12 will be back in the market ahead of both the SEC, whose deal with ESPN goes through 2034, and the ACC, whose ESPN deal expires in 2036.
For the “A” package, ESPN gets the top four football picks each season, six of the top eight picks, eight of the top 12 picks and 12 of the top 20 picks. As part of the deal, ESPN also gets the rights to the Big 12 football championship game and the basketball tournament championship game. The Big 12’s parity helped convince Fox, whose package includes 26 football games per season that will run on Fox broadcast network and FS1, to do the deal.
From Fox’s perspective, the silver lining to the loss of Oklahoma and Texas is that the Big 12 will be more balanced and potentially deeper. For example, TCU and Kansas State sit atop the Big 12’s standings this season. Last season, it was Oklahoma State and Baylor. And the year before that, it was Iowa State. Fox’s deal also provides a slate of Big 12 college basketball games on Fox and FS1 for the first time.
The Big 12, which will add BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF next year, used a different negotiating approach than the Pac-12, whose media rights expire in 2024. The Pac-12 allowed its exclusive negotiating windows with ESPN and Fox Sports to lapse, enabling the conference to take its rights to the broader market. Incumbents ESPN and Fox are expected to be at the table, as well as digital media companies like Amazon and Apple.
In a best-case scenario for the conference, that could create the prospect of a bidding war and produce a healthy revenue increase. The specter of the Big 12 leaping ahead of the Pac-12 also creates greater uncertainty for the Pac-12 now. But after a destabilizing summer of conference realignment, the Big 12 decided that it was most important to get the security and stability that comes with these media rights deals.
Yormark led the talks for the Big 12, but worked closely with Mark Shapiro and Karen Brodkin from Endeavor, and Hillary Mandel from IMG Media. ESPN President/Programming & Original Content Burke Magnus was on point for the network during the negotiations alongside VP/Programming & Acquisitions Nick Dawson. On the Fox side, the deal team included Jordan Bazant, who joined the company earlier this year, along with CEO & Exec Producer Eric Shanks, President & COO Mark Silverman and EVP Larry Jones. This marks Bazant’s first major deal since joining the company.
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