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Big 12 opens media rights negotiations ahead of next contract with ESPN and FOX, per report
By Keith Farner
Published:
The Big 12 has taken the next step in the ongoing cycle of media rights deals, and has opened discussions with FOX Sports and ESPN, well ahead of the future contract window.
This comes more than a year and a half ahead of the contract’s formal and exclusive negotiating window, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported. This development allows the Big 12, which has a contract through the 2024 football season, to potentially get tangible future revenue numbers for both its member schools and potential additions.
In the uncertain future of college sports and media rights, this early window could give the Big 12 a distinct advantage.
There’s no requirement that both sides must come together, and they could still maintain the formal negotiating window in February 2024. This opening of discussions essentially gives Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and the conference’s television partners two chances to engage, ESPN reported.
“(Yormark) is doing what he should be doing, trying to gain an advantage,” an industry source told ESPN.
This is essentially a competition and somewhat of a race between other conferences, specifically the Pac-12. Similarly, the Pac-12 has 2 years remaining on its television contract, and the league announced in July that its board of directors had authorized the conference to begin negotiations for its next media rights agreement.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
