FOX needs more college basketball content. I've laid out the math multiple times before looking at every conference and their media partners, but, I'll add some comment. The vast majority of Big 10 basketball games are shown on the BTN, not FOX. All of the Big 10 basketball tournament is on the BTN except the semis and finals. which are on CBS. If I remember correctly, about 3 Big 10 basketball games are on FOX/FS1 per week. And, FOX has no college basketball conference tournaments except the Big East.
I disagree that they need more college basketball content specifically. Fox needs sports content- regardless of what that content is- that is cheap to produce and is profitable for them during the months of Jan-April until they start to broadcast baseball again.
That content could come from a plethora of different places… they could bid on the NBA, they could re-up with the Big East, increased linear exposure for the MWC, buy into a new PAC, the newly merged USFL/XFL rights, etc. The #’s signed during the old B1G and Big 12 deals aren’t going to remain 100% exactly the same given the recent additions.. it will be interesting to see how that shakes out from a network perspective.
Hell, the CFP is said to be looking for an extra $60M for the added CFP games in ‘24 and ’25. Could Fox decide to use the BE TV money to buy into the CFP instead, with a shot at buying into a major foothold in the event in ‘26?
I do not think it’s a slam dunk that the Big East winds up with the same linear exposure that it has today in the next deal. Every single league that has signed a deal since the BE inked with Fox originally has had a streaming component to it. I would be shocked if the BE avoids that fate.