Here’s a look at all the current conference TV deals

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report08/02/21

The SEC recently negotiated a TV deal with ESPN, but given the recent big news about the conference expanding, the league almost certainly will saunter back to the negotiating table.

Regardless, here is a look at the current conference TV deals for each of the 10 leagues, for Notre Dame and for the College Football Playoff.

AAC

In 2019, the 11-school league reached an agreement with ESPN on a 12-year, $1 billion deal; it started in the fall of 2020 and runs through the 2031-32 academic year. The deal averages $83.3 million per year, which means each school receives about $7 million annually. (Navy is in the league for football only; league member Wichita State does not play football.)

ACC

The league’s 20-year top-tier deal with ESPN runs through 2036. It pays about $240 million annually, meaning each of the 14 schools gets about $17 million.

Big Ten

The league is in the middle of a six-year, $2.64 billion deal with Fox and ESPN that expires in 2023 and currently makes it the lead dog in annual TV revenue. The league gets about $440 million a year in TV money (including from the Fox-run Big Ten Network), meaning each of the 14 schools receives about $31.4 million. With CBS losing its SEC deal, might that network want a piece of Big Ten football? Negotiations for the league’s next TV contract will be mighty interesting.

Big 12

The league is in the midst of a 13-year deal with ESPN and Fox that ends in 2025, and reports earlier this year said the networks were not interested in early renegotiations. That is one of the reasons Oklahoma and Texas are leaving the league. The current deal pays the 10-school league about $200 million annually.

Conference USA

In 2018, the league announced a five-year deal with CBS Sports Network to serve as the primary rights holder. Stadium and Facebook also carry some of the league’s football and basketball games. Schools receive between $400,000 and $500,000 annually.

Mid-American

In 2019, the league and CBS Sports Network announced a four-year extension to televise football and basketball games through the 2022-2023 season. The deal, a four-year extension from the original agreement signed in the 2015-2016 season, is through a sublicense agreement with ESPN. The deal is worth about $8 million a year, which means each of the 12 schools receives about $600,000 annually.

Mountain West

The league has a six-year deal — through the 2025-26 academic year — with CBS and Fox that will pay the league $270 million. CBS is the primary partner. Each of the 12 schools receives about $4 million annually.

Pac-12

A 12-year, $3 billion contract with Fox and ESPN that pays each school about $21 million annually expires in the summer of 2024.

SEC

ESPN will be the exclusive home of SEC football and men’s basketball starting in 2024. The 10-year contract reportedly will be worth more than $300 million annually for the league; that is on top of the current deal with ESPN (that one also ends in 2034) that includes the televising of certain football and basketball games and the SEC Network. Consider that the current deal with CBS is worth $55 million a year. And consider that SEC expansion almost certainly will lead to a re-opening of negotiations. (Under that new ESPN deal, the 14 member schools would’ve expected to receive about $40 million a year solely from the league’s TV deal. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, each SEC school received about $44 million total from the SEC’s entire revenue distribution system.)

Sun Belt

The league announced in July that it had extended its agreement with ESPN through the 2030-31 academic year. Each school is believed to make about $500,000 annually.

Notre Dame

In 2013, NBC Sports Group announced a 10-year contract extension to televise Irish football games. The extension began in 2016 and will run through the 2025 season. The deal reportedly pays Notre Dame $15 million annually.

College Football Playoff

ESPN pays the CFP $470 million annually in a deal that runs through 2025-26. Figures from the 2019-20 season show that each of the Power 5 leagues received a baseline $67 million; the other five FBS conferences shared $92 million. That $470 million is with a four-team playoff; playoff expansion is expected to easily triple (and come close to quadrupling) that amount.

(Top photo: Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)