The ongoing bidding war for the Big Ten’s upcoming media rights deal is reaching professional football proportions.
NBC, one of the many bidders in the war, is pitching a plan to turn the Big Ten into “the NFL of college football conferences,” according to a report from Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy and Amanda Christovich.
Along with combining its existing coverage of Notre Dame with the Big Ten to create a “perfect one-two punch,” NBC is “proposing a strategy that calls for back-to-back Big Ten and NFL games in prime time TV on Saturday and Sunday nights,” McCarthy and Christovich wrote.
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It is a creative proposal that will stand out in a fiercely-competitive battle with other major networks and streaming services, including Amazon, ESPN/ABC, and CBS Sports. The winner will air games alongside FOX Sports, which is the conference’s primary TV partner and an operating partner in the Big Ten Network.
Whoever wins the bid is expected to pay at least $1.25 billion, a 25% increase from initial projections when the deal appeared close to being done earlier this year. Then USC and UCLA joined the conference, bringing the second-largest TV market in the nation along with it and shooting up the price.
When the deal will be completed is anyone’s guess. At Big Ten Media Days, Commissioner Kevin Warren hinted that it should “reach that decision here pretty quickly.”
“I’m incredibly pleased with where we are,” Warren said. “We have great opportunities. We’re finalizing our deals, and I look forward to standing before you to make an announcement sometime here, sooner than later.”
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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