It appears that CBS Sports will indeed be on the outside looking in on the Big East’s latest round of media rights deals.
Per the Sports Business Journal, CBS couldn’t get a deal done with the Big East, which is set to announce its latest round of media rights deals with incumbent Fox Sports and new partners NBC and TNT Sports.
Earlier this month, reports indicated those three parties were leading the race for the Big East’s media rights. At the time, incumbent CBS was “still holding talks” for a package of games. The conference and CBS were making progress earlier this year on a new deal, but it now appears those talks were fruitless.
SBJ reports that while the value of the Big East’s new deal is still unknown, it’s expected that it will represent “a significant rights fee uptick.” The deals are set to run for six years, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year and running through 2031-22.
Losing the Big East is a disappointing, but not fatal, blow for CBS. This past season, for instance, CBS aired roughly a dozen games between its broadcast and cable (CBS Sports Network) networks. Much of its inventory was made up of games from the Atlantic 10, Big Ten, and Mountain West, which won’t be negatively impacted by losing the Big East.
Notably, two of the Big East’s three media partners are part of the Venu Sports streaming joint venture, while the third has its own streaming service (Peacock). Games on TNT Sports should also be able to be streamed through Max.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.