According to John Ourand of SportsBusinessDaily.com, ESPN will purchase the second half of the Big Ten Conference’s media rights.
Huge Big Ten News in SBJ this morning: ESPN will share media rights with Fox through 2022-23. https://t.co/Qo9QXz6kZM
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) June 20, 2016
Ourand reports that ESPN, which will way pay an average of $190 million a year over six years, will have the rights to around 25 football and 50 basketball conference games each season (similar as FOX Sports’).
FOX Sports, which paid around $250 million p/y, will carry the Big Ten Conference Championship Game and will have game selection advantages over ESPN, which almost certainly means that the coveted Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will move to Fox most years.
The Big Ten will see its average media rights triple with the combined six-year, $2.64 billion dollar deals with FOX Sports and ESPN.
CBSSports will continue to carry the Big Ten basketball tournament semis and championship game on through 2023.
[SBJ]
