Updated 9/7 @9:40 a.m. ET: Okay, now it’s officially. Finally.
The Big 12 announced the agreement on its website Friday morning.
“The stability of the Big 12 Conference is cemented,” said commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “We are positioned with one of the best media rights arrangements in collegiate sports, providing the Conference and its members unprecedented revenue growth, and sports programming over two networks.”
Bowlsby has made it known before that the details of the agreement (i.e., which broadcast partner gets the best games and so on) have been the biggest snags to getting the whole thing finalized. In a partnership with two big broadcasting companies, that’s a natural hiccup.
But the deal is done now, and the security of a conference twice thought to be extinct is on solid ground for the next 13 years.
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It’s been several months in the making -- it definitely took a little longer than most probably expected -- but the Big 12’s new TV extension with ABC/ESPN and FOX is set to be announced Friday, according to Brett McMurphy.
Seeing as McMurphy works for ESPN now, we’re going to go out on a limb and say, yeah, he knows what’s up. The Big 12 board of directors are expected to approve the package on Friday. When it becomes official, we’ll let you know.
The deal will reportedly be for 13 years through 2025 and worth $2.6 billion, which is the amount CBSSports reported back in May; the Sports Business Daily reported in March the amount would be $2.5 billion over 13 years. Big 12 members will receive $20 million annually from the deal.
More importantly, the deal should include a 13-year grant of rights, which was expected to be part of the agreement. The grant of rights would keep a school’s revenue in the conference if that member leaves for another league. The Pac-12 and Big Ten also include grant of rights in their media deals.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has stated in recent weeks that the deal has been in the homestretch, but that minor details were getting in the way of completing the agreement.