Big Ten college basketball coverage is changing networks this coming season, but it will retain a familiar voice. ESPN’s coverage of the conference is ending after 40 years thanks to the league’s new rights deals with Fox, NBC, and CBS, which will see Fox and CBS both air significantly more Big Ten games than they had (more than 200 men’s basketball games per year in Fox’s case) and NBC add a new Peacock-exclusive package of up to 47 men’s basketball and 30 women’s basketball games per year. And, as Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reported Monday, veteran ESPN analyst Robbie Hummel will continue calling Big Ten men’s basketball games, but now for Fox and NBC (as well as continuing on Big Ten Network):
NEWSLETTER+: Robbie Hummel leaving ESPN for NBC & Fox, The Post has learned.https://t.co/XeGAKAw0jm
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) September 25, 2023
Here’s more from Marchand’s piece:
Hummel, 34, leaves ESPN after six seasons with the network. ESPN previously had the Big Ten for four decades.
NBC’s deal with the Big Ten prominently featured its Saturday night college football package. It also will have college hoops games on Peacock during the week. Hummel is expected to get a lot of run on Tuesdays.
Hummel will also call hoops for Fox and FS1. ESPN is out of the Big Ten college hoops business beginning this season.
Hummel will continue on the Big Ten Network. This is easy because Fox Sports and the Big Ten Network have common ownership.
That’s certainly a notable shift, as Hummel had been a prominent ESPN college basketball voice (and was even on their final Big Ten men’s basketball broadcast in March). But that seems to be a logical move, as Hummel played in the Big Ten at Purdue (he’s seen at top at his 2020 introduction into the school’s athletics hall of fame) and has been most notable as a Big Ten commentator between ESPN and BTN. And this makes sense for Fox and NBC to add a familiar-to-fans voice to their expanded/new Big Ten packages.
