Report: Big Ten, ESPN reach agreement

IOWA CITY — When ESPN faced with life with or without the Big Ten Conference on its multiple platforms, the Worldwide Leader in Sports blinked.

According to a report Monday in the SportsBusiness Journal, ESPN agreed to become a second partner for Big Ten football and men's basketball beginning in 2017. The network will pay $1.14 billion over six years — about $190 million annually — and keep their partnership intact. The SportsBusiness Journal report comes about six weeks after it reported Fox will pay the Big Ten about $240 million annually ($1.5 billion) to televise 25 football and 50 men's basketball games annually on Fox/FS1.

In its 2015 NCAA financial reporter, which was obtained by The Gazette, Iowa athletics earned nearly $23 million from media rights agreements. From Fox, CBS and ESPN sources in the new deal, that number grows to more than $31 million annually. That doesn't include Big Ten Network revenues, the Big Ten office share or prearranged financial arrangements with league newcomers Maryland and Rutgers.

With millions of subscribers severing ties with cable companies, the ESPN family of networks could not afford to lose the nation's highest-profile collegiate sports conference. Revenue losses propelled the exit of several prominent ESPN personalities. But 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. In the end, ESPN considered Big Ten content too valuable to discard.

• Hlas: ESPN deal another reminder Iowa's lucky to be in Big Ten

Big Ten teams appeared in three of the four most-watched regular-season college football games in 2015, including Michigan State-Ohio State, which was the most-watched game. 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 produced three of the top five games on the WatchESPN app.

Likewise, ESPN boasts the industry's most widely used platforms, holds exclusive rights to the College Football Playoff and airs nearly every bowl game. The network often dictates national discussions on most college sports issues.

At the Big Ten's annual spring athletics director meetings, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany neither confirmed nor denied the Fox deal and said he 'wouldn't talk about walking away from anybody' when asked leaving ESPN. Delany told reporters he expected to announce terms this summer. The SportsBusiness Journal reported Big Ten officials are vetting the arrangement and hope to make it official by the league's football media days in late July.

The Big Ten's recent surge in football prowess and profile (Ohio State's 2014 title, Michigan hiring Jim Harbaugh), coupled with an expansion that includes one national brand (Nebraska) and two schools (Rutgers, Maryland) delivering major media markets (New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia), helped the league nearly triple its rights fees from the 2014 fiscal year. That year, the league totaled roughly $250 million from all media sources, according to reports obtained by The Gazette. That included payments from ESPN ($116 million), BTN ($101 million), Fox ($28 million) and CBS ($5.52 million).

'I will tell you this: there's one thing I'm pretty sure of is that when you have quality content, you'll be relatively speaking well-served,' Delany said in May. 'We have quality product, especially in recent years, our ratings in football, our ratings in basketball have been at the very highest level in the collegiate community. While there is change going on, and we've recognized that ... I will tell you it affects ratings but you could be sure those with great, great content will always relatively speaking be treated relatively well.'

The SportsBusiness Journal also reported CBS will keep its men's basketball contract for $10 million per year. Revenue from the Big Ten Network expects to grow but has not been revealed. Fox owns 51 percent of the Big Ten Network, while the league owns 49 percent.

Most athletics departments have targeted certain numbers but Northwestern Athletics Director Jim Phillips said last month he didn't have a financial goal in mind with the media rights package.

'I don't know if there's any expectation because I think that sets you up for a little bit of a letdown potentially,' Phillips said.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta recently told The Gazette that he was 'very comfortable' with media rights negotiations, which now appear complete.

'Jim has proved himself over many years and over many different scenarios and times that he knows where we want to go as a conference,' Barta said.

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