There have been plenty of discussions lately on how the Big East’s men’s and women’s college basketball rights look set to go to a combination of co-incumbent Fox and new broadcasters NBC and Warner Bros. Discovery. On Thursday, that latter company’s TNT Sports division officially announced the details of their Big East deal, which will run for six years and include more than 65 games each season. Here’s more on that from a release:
TNT Sports and the BIG EAST Conference announced today a new six-year media rights agreement that will feature more than 65 regular season BIG EAST college basketball games airing across TNT – as the lead network – along with TBS, truTV and Max, beginning with the 2025-26 season.
Highlights of the agreement include:
- More than 50 men’s college basketball regular season games each season, with at least 30 conference games and a minimum of 20 non-conference games
- At least 15 women’s college basketball regular season games each season
- All live games available on Max
- In-depth highlights and ancillary content across all platforms, including Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and more.
“BIG EAST basketball has historically delivered some of the most thrilling teams and moments in college sports, including its most recent accomplishments, and we are excited to showcase the conference and its fantastic men’s and women’s college basketball programs on all of our TNT Sports platforms,” said Luis Silberwasser, Chairman and CEO, TNT Sports. “This agreement further adds to TNT Sports’ portfolio of premium live sports content, featuring championship-caliber college basketball programs and student athletes, and we will utilize all of our assets to elevate the fan experience.”
It’s notable to see this long–rumored move (first reported by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic earlier this month) officially confirmed, and to see the details on it. And it’s interesting to see WBD getting more into college sports. They’ve partnered with CBS (the other co-incumbent on the Big East, but a company that now looks to be on the outside looking in here) on the men’s NCAA Tournament since 2011, but haven’t always shown a lot of other college sports on TNT and TBS. However, they currently have deals for the Hall of Fame Las Vegas season tip-off event and the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic in-season HBCU showcase as well. And this deal will particularly boost their regular-season college basketball coverage.
TNT Sports has also recently added U.S. rights to the NHL (with their coverage there beginning back in 2021-22), U.S. Soccer (starting back in 2023), Bellator (beginning this year), College Football Playoff games (beginning this year), NASCAR (beginning next year), the French Open at Roland-Garros (beginning next year), and more. So sports is still a major emphasis at the company, even with the ongoing uncertainty on if they’ll be able to retain any NBA rights.
On the streaming side, TNT Sports has also been bolstering their offerings on Max. And they remain a part of the upcoming Venu Sports streaming joint venture with ESPN and Fox. We’ll see how the Big East deal (which includes two-time defending men’s national champions Connecticut and recently-returned coach Dan Hurley) works out for them.
