According to Sports Business Daily's John Ourand and Michael Smith, the Big 12 and ESPN are nearing a "blockbuster" television rights extension, which would place the conference's media revenue along with the top conferences in college sports.
The Big 12 and ESPN are nearing an extension that will earn the conference - combined with its Fox TV contract - $2.5 billion over the next 13 years, according to industry sources. The ESPN extension would run through 2025 and sync up with Fox's deal.
The Big 12 is set to $1.3 billion from the ESPN deal and $1.5 billion from their deal with FOX through the life of the two deals, which keeps them in line with the Big Ten and SEC even though teams like Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC. This is good news for the rest of the teams in the Big 12, including West Virginia and TCU, who joined after the SEC expansion, as each team could make up to $5 million more per year.
Under the new terms, each Big 12 school will average just under $20 million a year. Schools in the Pac-12, which also partnered with ESPN and Fox to generate its record $3 billion deal over 12 years, will average nearly $21 million per school.
This deal could also spur the SEC and ACC to try to negotiate new media deals since they expanded to 14 teams which makes them eligible to negotiate new terms.
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