It appears we will no longer have the opportunity to hear Gus Johnson’s voice go up an octave or two when yelling ‘Boomer Sooner’ or talking about Bevo’s sideline antics.
In a report from the SportsBusiness Journal that surfaced on Monday, it seems Fox has declined to pick up the rights to the Big 12 Football Championship Game in odd years as the conference seeks “at least” $20 million from a TV partner to air the game. SBJ goes on to note that the league has been talking to a number of media companies about the 2019, 2021 and 2023 games after Fox’s decision, which comes just two years after the network ponied up some $25 million for the 2017 game.
While it’s possible a CBS, Turner Sports or online player such as Amazon could get in the mix, the rights to the game might not get further than the worldwide leader. ESPN (and by extension ABC), has already signed up to televise the even years of the Big 12 title game through 2024 and apparently would have the first option to take the odd year rights as well.
It remains to be seen if they’ll do just that given ESPN/ABC will air numerous other conference championship games on the final weekend of the regular season and add the Pac-12 title game to the mix during odd years as well. Either way, the Big 12 has only a few places to turn to that could pony up that kind of cash for the game and the 2019 season is just around the corner when it comes to this kind of stuff, all things considered.