Big Ten bullish on future TV rights

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Big Ten officials actively seek a media buyer for its vast sports inventory with past partnerships serving as a guideline, not a precursor to future relationships.

'We're cohesive in our approach,' Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said Wednesday. 'Athletic directors and presidents have been intimately in the development of what it is we're trying to achieve.

'We feel confident but not overconfident.'

Delany declined to confirm a SportsBusiness Journal report last month that Fox has agreed to pay the league $250 million annually for top-tier rights (25 football and 50 men's basketball games on Fox/FS1) beginning in 2017. But compared with what the league earned in fiscal year 2014, the report's financials were jaw-dropping.

From ESPN ($116 million), BTN ($101 million), Fox ($28 million) and CBS ($5.52 million), the league totaled roughly $250 million from all 2014 media sources, according to reports obtained by The Gazette. Considering the league will receive Big Ten Network revenue for at least another 10 years (the Big Ten owns 49 percent; Fox owns 51 percent), the secondary rights windfall could mark the financial distance between the Big Ten and other major conferences.

But finding that other partner is the wild card. The Big Ten and ESPN have enjoyed a relationship for 25-plus years. Big Ten teams appeared in three of the four most-watched regular-season college football games in 2015, including top-viewed Michigan State-Ohio State. On Thanksgiving weekend, Iowa-Nebraska posted ABC's highest-rated Black Friday game in 10 years, and Ohio State-Michigan followed with the highest-rated early-afternoon Saturday game in 18 years. Among 2015 regular-season games, the Big Ten owned three of the top five games on the WatchESPN app.

But according to the SportsBusiness Journal, ESPN produced a low offer, which has led to Big Ten officials weighing other network options.

'The Big Ten Conference will ultimately do what's best for the Big Ten Conference, and ESPN has to take that same position,' Northwestern Athletics Director Jim Phillips said. 'Everybody's watching what's happening in the television world, the unbundling that's taking place. Different platforms that are available now that weren't available maybe last the go-round for TV contracts. So this isn't pointing a finger at ESPN in any way, stating you have to or don't have to dissipate as a partner of the Big Ten. It's more about can the two groups come together?

'Those have to be mutually relationships so it's not us leaving them or them leaving us. It's about can we come together? We're all hopeful that we'll get to the finish line, whether that's with ESPN or somebody else. Only time will tell.'

ESPN and its family of networks has established itself as the primary sports viewing destination. It owns the rights to the College Football Playoff through 2026. According to U.S. Census figures, the Big Ten footprint includes or borders four of the nation's top seven metropolitan markets, eight of the top 19 and 12 of the top 29. Their relationship has been — and continues to be — mutually beneficial. That's why Delany eschewed a question about whether he'd be willing to walk away from ESPN.

'I wouldn't talk about walking away from anybody or walking toward anybody,' Delany said. 'We're interested in having great partners that have great platforms that are interested in marketing and promotion. The market will decide what happens. ESPN has been a great partner, as CBS has, as the BTN has, as Fox has. So it's a new day, we've approached it that. We're into the marketplace, and we will see what we shall see.'

• MORE: B1G on Fox has possibilities and risks

The Big Ten's 10-year rights agreements with ESPN (football and men's basketball) and CBS (men's basketball) expire after the upcoming season, as does its six-year contract with Fox to televise its football championship game. The league signed a 20-year deal with BTN for each school's third-tier rights when the network debuted in 2007.

Phillips said Delany has communicated with all 14 schools' athletic directors and presidents about media rights more than 70 times over the last few years. The league plans to make future announcements this summer. Delany has all of their support, which is why they trust him with regard to ESPN.

'They've been wonderful partners but we're at a different place,' Phillips said. 'I think they're at a different place in 2016 than we were in the last round. That doesn't mean we can't get to the alter together and get married again, but we're at the dating stage right now. That's a process and that always occurs during a renegotiation. You'd certainly love to continue to stay married with that current partner but ultimately you've got to do what's in the best interest of the 14 institutions.'

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com