College football has had an intriguing offseason. Between rumored media deals, conference switching, and the transfer portal, there has been no shortage of news. A recent report stated that ESPN would not be covering Big Ten games for the first time in 10 years. CBS and NBC were listed as potential TV destinations for the conference following the news. However, the Big Ten released a statement in reference to the report, via Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger.
“The Big Ten Conference is currently working with world-class partners to complete multifaceted media rights agreements. The overall constructs of the new rights agreements have not been finalized. The conference continues to have productive meetings with both linear and direct to consumer media partners.”
“We are committed to delivering unparalleled resources and exposure opportunities for Big Ten Conference member institutions, athletic programs, student-athletes, coaches and fans. We are very thankful to the media companies who recognize the value of Big Ten programming and want to deliver it to our fans around the world in a forward-thinking manner.”
This could mean a number of different things. The conference is working on “multifaceted media rights agreements.” One would imagine that they will be looking into streaming services as well. Many professional sports have struck deals with streaming services such as Apple and Peacock.
But NBC and CBS will likely be at the top of the radar. The Big Ten is looking for a way to compete with the other major conferences. Securing the proper media rights deals will be of the utmost importantance.
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