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News and Notes from Around the Big 12
9. Although rumors have been swirling for months, the Sports Business Journal dropped a bombshell about the Big Ten’s negotiations with Fox, which we should expect to be wrapped up by this summer. I will have an article on it on its own in a week or two, but the most important part of the rumor had to do with it only being six years long, ending right as the Pac 12 and Big 12 contracts end. Many have speculated this means the Big Ten is preparing for an expansion move, but I’ve heard a few things to indicate it may be looking at the college sports media game differently. It is generally assumed that for the Big Ten to gain more markets for its network that it has to expand with schools to join its conference. However, word out of Chicago is that fourteen is already a difficult number to handle and expanding even more threatens to make it worse. Instead there is talk of using the Big Ten Network’s infrastructure to envelop the Big 12 for Texas and possibly the Pac 12 for the West Coast utilizing a common connection through Fox. These would not be conference expansion/mergers, but instead a media expansion/merger, as if the Big Ten Network was the Pac 12 and Big 12’s Tier Three media partner. This would turn the channel from conference centric to college sports centric, much like ESPNU. Games would be mirrored so each areas games played in their local footprint, allow BTN to charge higher rates in more areas, and feature scheduled out of conference games between the partners. While this allows the Big Ten and other conferences to sell more content to broadcasters as well, the ultimate goal would be to contain the SEC. Stay tuned.
9. Although rumors have been swirling for months, the Sports Business Journal dropped a bombshell about the Big Ten’s negotiations with Fox, which we should expect to be wrapped up by this summer. I will have an article on it on its own in a week or two, but the most important part of the rumor had to do with it only being six years long, ending right as the Pac 12 and Big 12 contracts end. Many have speculated this means the Big Ten is preparing for an expansion move, but I’ve heard a few things to indicate it may be looking at the college sports media game differently. It is generally assumed that for the Big Ten to gain more markets for its network that it has to expand with schools to join its conference. However, word out of Chicago is that fourteen is already a difficult number to handle and expanding even more threatens to make it worse. Instead there is talk of using the Big Ten Network’s infrastructure to envelop the Big 12 for Texas and possibly the Pac 12 for the West Coast utilizing a common connection through Fox. These would not be conference expansion/mergers, but instead a media expansion/merger, as if the Big Ten Network was the Pac 12 and Big 12’s Tier Three media partner. This would turn the channel from conference centric to college sports centric, much like ESPNU. Games would be mirrored so each areas games played in their local footprint, allow BTN to charge higher rates in more areas, and feature scheduled out of conference games between the partners. While this allows the Big Ten and other conferences to sell more content to broadcasters as well, the ultimate goal would be to contain the SEC. Stay tuned.
