The Big 12 is extending its current television contract with ESPN and Fox, according to ESPN sources.
The league is in the final stages of putting together a six-year, $2.28 billion contract extension that includes a sizable pay bump for schools. The new contract, which takes hold starting in 2025, includes ESPN owning more than 60 percent of the inventory and Fox adding a sizable portion of college basketball.
The deal projects for the Big 12 to make a sharp increase in media revenue per school, despite Oklahoma and Texas not being in the league after the 2024 season. A source said that the league is expected to agree to a grant of rights with its 12 members for the length of the deal.
The overall value of the Big 12's media deal is expected to increase from $220 million annually to $380 million. That's an average increase in media-only revenue per school from $22 million to $31.7 million (the $380 million is now divided 12 ways with the addition of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston).
It's safe to project the overall per-school revenue increasing to nearly $50 million starting in 2025-26. That number could well be much bigger depending on money the 12-team College Football Playoff delivers.
The Big 12 chose not to go to the open market, a move that did not expose the league to outside bidders and could have potentially yielded more money for the Big 12 in the long term. But it gives the league security and visibility on traditional platforms.
The Big 12’s current rights agreement runs through the 2024-25 academic year. But the conference entered early discussions with the networks in August, leapfrogging the Pac-12, which seemed to have an advantage in being next to market because its media rights agreement expires in 2024, reports The Athletic.
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