Big 12 finalizing media rights deal with ESPN and Fox

The Big 12 is finalizing a new six-year media rights package with its current partners ESPN and Fox, sources confirmed to Front Office Sports. The deal, which starts in 2025, is worth a total of $2.28 billion.

The deal solidifies a conference whose very existence was in question just a year ago when Texas and Oklahoma announced they would leave for the SEC, taking half of the conference’s media rights value with them. 

But new commissioner Brett Yormark was able to negotiate a package that will bring in millions more than the current deal. The additions of BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston undoubtedly provided a boost.

The average annual revenue is $380 million—$160 million more than the final years of the current deal.

ESPN will have the top package of football games over Fox, as well as the championship games for basketball and football. 

After dropping out of Big Ten rights, ESPN was very interested in the Big 12, as FOS previously reported.

Sports Business Journal first reported the news.

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The new deal is modest compared to the Big Ten's deal worth $7 billion, but it puts the Big 12 ahead of the ACC and Pac-12, which could have expansion implications.

The Pac-12 hasn’t announced a new package even though its media rights deal expires in 2024. Now, the Big 12 is ahead, able to tout a lucrative deal more than a year earlier than previously expected.

Yormark previously told FOS that expansion was “top of mind,” but that his main focus was welcoming the four new schools successfully next year.

—Amanda Christovich is a reporter at Front Office Sports; Michael McCarthy is a senior writer for Front Office Sports