Big Ten announces location, schedule for 2022 media days

On3 imageby:Nick Schultz06/15/22

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It’s a sign college football season is right around the corner. The Big Ten announced its location and full schedule for this year’s Big Ten Media Days.

The league moved media days from Chicago to Indianapolis in 2021, and it’s doing the same this year as it returns to Lucas Oil Stadium July 26 and 27. Seven teams will meet the media on day one and the other seven will do so on day two.

Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern will be the first teams up on July 26, the league announced. Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin will take the podium the next day.

Big Ten Media Days are a landmark event on the calendar, occurring just one month before Week 0. Nebraska and Northwestern will play the first game of the season Aug. 27 in Dublin, Ireland, while Illinois will take on Wyoming later that day to start the year.

One of the big topics of conversation is sure to be the league’s looming media rights deal. It could be upward of $1 billion, according to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, and the Big Ten has plenty of suitors vying for the rights.

Report: Details emerge on potential bidding war for Big Ten media rights

The looming Big Ten media rights deal is shaping out to be one of the most lucrative in college football history. Tuesday, The Athletic provided more details about who’s involved in the discussions — and it’s a true bidding war.

There are a few different scenarios in play, according to The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman, Nicole Auerbach and Stewart Mandel. One of them includes a tripleheader split between Fox, CBS and NBC. Amazon is also expressing interest in streaming one game per week on Amazon Prime, which recently landed Thursday Night Football.

But ESPN is part of the Big Ten’s current agreement, and that’s a big question that needs to be answered, as well.

“Speculation has swirled that the Big Ten might want — and might be willing — to sign away its rights to entities that are not ESPN,” the report said. “Imagine a Saturday with a noon game on Fox, an afternoon game on CBS and a night NBC game. If you know ESPN has a vested financial interest in the top teams in other leagues, the source mused, it might make sense to throw your weight behind one of their competitors, thinking that your best inventory would be prioritized.”