ESPN President of Content addresses pursuit of College Football Playoff TV rights

The College Football Playoff is the premier postseason event of the season. Because of that, it gets tons of attention and becomes a very valuable event for a media entity to hold onto as key inventory.

Because of that, ESPN is going to be aggressive in its pursuit of College Football Playoff media rights going forward, according to the ESPN President of Content, Burke Magnus.

“I think this is another one we really love being a part of and intend to pursue aggressively,” Burke Magnus told The Athletic. “College football is something that’s foundational to what we do here, not just from a live-event perspective, but coverage in general.”

ESPN has had the rights to the College Football Playoff since its inception. It will continue to own those broadcasting rights through 2025. However, after that, the CFP is going to expand and many expect there to be several suitors for the rights.

College Football Playoff expansion is going to include 12 teams, four of which are going to get a first round bye. That would bump the tournament from three to 11 games, a massive boost in value for whatever network holds the rights to the game. There is even the potential that multiple networks host games.

“We believe that the CFP and the commissioners did a really thoughtful job on the expansion plan, which we think will put that sport in an even stronger position in the future with a bracketed playoff. So we love it, we’d love to keep it, and I think we’re going to behave accordingly.”

ESPN reportedly spends an average of $470 million annually to broadcast the College Football Playoff. That number will surely rise once the CFP expands.

ESPN President of Content on negotiations with the Pac-12

ESPN wasn’t able to come to a deal with the Pac-12 when that conference was negotiating its media rights deal. That was largely because the Pac-12 reportedly wanted $50 million annually per school, while ESPN was only willing to spend $30 million.

Burke Magnus explained that in those negotiations, it was the Pac-12 that decided not to counter and to look for a deal elsewhere. It never found one and is down to four schools after six more, along with UCLA and USC, announced their departure.

“Directionally, yeah, that’s fair to say,” Burke Magnus said. “I think the order was reversed. Our final offer, which was rejected, was never really countered back. We went in another direction, as has been documented. Regardless, we thought we made a fair, disciplined and marketplace-informed offer, and we couldn’t get there with them at that time.”