Big 12 Conference Inks $2.3 Billion Media Rights Deal With ESPN, Fox Sports

Landmark media rights deal gives Big 12 fans confidence in the league as the winds of change blow.

© William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports

On Sunday, the Big 12 Conference notched a critical media rights deal with ESPN and Fox Sports through at least the 2030-31 season worth $2.3 billion. The deal gives some insurance and stability to the league that's had its fair share of concerns over the last two years.

Michael Smith and John Ourand of Sports Business Journal first broke the news.

Currently, the Big 12 is paid out $220 million per year, a figure that'll remain constant through the league year ending on June 30, 2025. After that, the payout increases to and average of $380 million per year.

That June 2025 date is not just pivotal in the Big 12, but it has been a looming date in college football as a whole. That's the date expected for the departure of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 to the SEC. The fear was that losing their two biggest brands would send the Big 12 into a tailspin and even sparked rumors that the conference would assimilate into others.

To combat those rumors, the conference confirmed the addition of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in time for the 2023 football season. But more turbulence kicked up when USC and UCLA announced their leaving from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten and fears once again circulated that conferences not named Big Ten or SEC would fade into nothingness.

But this latest media rights deal essentially kicks that to the curb.

The deal is a major win for new commissioner Brett Yormark, who was a lauded hire back in June. From Day 1, Yormark's mission was to get a new media rights deal inked. Just 90 days later, that mission became a reality.

A staple in the deal for Fox is that they will broadcast Big 12 college basketball on the primary Fox network as well as FS1 for the first time.

The Big 12 deal follows the blockbuster $7 billion media rights deal finalized by Big Ten with NBC, CBS, and Fox in August. The Pac-12 will be trying to negotiate a new deal soon after a failed Pac-12 Network exclusive deal dried out for the past few years.

For now, the Big 12 is stable. New additions to the conference incoming and a fresh deal will keep the conference afloat for the foreseeable future.

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