Big Ten Football Championship Game(s) To Air on Fox

Submitted by Tim on

Meh, though unsurprising, since Fox has an ownership stake in BTN.

Press release:

BIG TEN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCES MEDIA AGREEMENT WITH FOX SPORTS

TO TELEVISE 2011-16 BIG TEN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

Big Ten Football joins Super Bowl XLV, World Series and Daytona 500 on FOX Sports

Park Ridge, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference has reached a media agreement with FOX Sports to serve as the official broadcast partner of the 2011-16 Big Ten Football Championship Games. The inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game will be played in prime time on December 3, 2011, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with the winner earning the Big Ten Championship and a chance to play in the Rose Bowl Game or Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game.

FOX Sports, the nation’s top-rated network for sports for 13 consecutive years, is well-known for its coverage of some of the biggest sporting events in the country, including the Super Bowl, World Series and Daytona 500. The network also served as the official television home of the Bowl Championship Series for the 2006-09 seasons and has broadcast the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic since 1999. The network will promote the Big Ten Football Championship Game as one of the premium sporting events in the country on all of its platforms, including FOXSports.com, FOX Sports Radio and during its coverage of major fall sports events, including the National Football League and Major League Baseball postseason.

“We are excited to announce that FOX Sports will be the official broadcast partner for the 2011-16 Big Ten Football Championship Games,” said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany. “FOX Sports is known for carrying the biggest sporting events in the country and is a leader in the acquisition, creative production and cutting-edge promotion of national events. Big Ten sports have achieved broad coverage in the American sports landscape through agreements with ABC, ESPN, CBS Sports, CBS College Sports Network and the Big Ten Network. We look forward to the addition of FOX Sports, which is committed to promoting Big Ten football and will air the Big Ten Championship Games to more than 115 million homes.”

“Since our inception in 1994, our goal has been to provide viewers with the biggest, most prestigious sporting events in America and the acquisition of the Big Ten Football Championship Game continues that tradition,” said David Hill, Chairman & CEO, FOX Sports Media Group. “We are thrilled to bring this contest to the network and we’re looking forward to providing it an unprecedented, multi-platform promotional effort while maximizing the synergistic opportunities between FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network.”

The Big Ten Network, a joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. The network is available to more than 75 million homes across the United States and Canada, and currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates. FOX Sports’ coverage of the Big Ten Football Championship Game will allow the Big Ten Network to play a prominent role at the site of the game, including the possibility of shared talent.

In addition to the media agreement with FOX Sports to broadcast the Big Ten Football Championship Game, the conference currently has media agreements with ABC, ESPN, CBS Sports, CBS College Sports Network and the Big Ten Network to provide the conference with its greatest television exposure ever. The Big Ten’s current media agreements have resulted in the production and distribution of more than 850 events nationally on an annual basis, compared to 300 events prior to the launch of the Big Ten Network.

End release.

Fox doesn't do a greeaaat job broadcasting college football, either for the Big 12/Pac 10 or on the Big Ten Network. Still, as I said above, this is no surprise. If Chris Martin is tabbed to announce any Big Ten Championship Game, though, I will end my life.

That might sound like a joke but it's not.

Comments

Blazefire

November 17th, 2010 at 10:23 PM ^

That this would've been the big Carrot the Big Ten needed to get the last few holdouts in the country to agree to a profitable contract. Surprised they're giving it away.

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joeburner82

November 17th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^

I hate Fox Sports with a passion!  Their NFL coverage sucks, their National baseball coverage sucks, and their college football coverage is the worst.  Watching those BCS games on Fox was awful!  ESPN/ABC should carry the Big Ten Title game

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Don

November 18th, 2010 at 12:53 AM ^

but Fox is just plain loud, obnoxious, and stupid. The difference between the two is like the difference between Catherine Zeta Jones and a gum-chewing pole dancer in a downriver titty bar.

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Hoke_Floats

November 18th, 2010 at 9:10 AM ^

a gum-chewing pole dancer in a downriver titty bar.

not always a bad thing...at least you know what you are getting

Its not like the tiffany network is all that great at doing football games (Gary "the spread is dead" gets on my nerves a bit). 

Better to be a gum chewing pole dancer and act like one, then to put on a cocktail dress and pretend you are elizza doolittle

Joined: 09/21/2010

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dieseljr32

November 18th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^

I would rather have Matt Millen be the color guy then anybody from Fox Sports.  The only thing that I like about Fox Sports is their NFL Pregame show.  That's about it.  I prefer watching NFL games on CBS and CFB games definitely belong on ABC. 

I thought when the BCS was moved back to ESPN that we could avoid the general suck that is Fox when it comes to broadcasting sports.  I was wrong. 

I cannot wait to see crappy camera angles, crappy play-by-play announcing, crappy color analysis, and crappy crappyness during next year's Championship game.

Maybe they could coerce Keith Jackson out of retirement.  He does do the 50 Greatest Big Ten Icons for the BTN....

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cutter

November 18th, 2010 at 7:35 AM ^

I wonder how much synergy there will be betwen Fox and the Big Ten Network on the broadcast.  For example, would the halftime recap show include Dave Revsine as one of the analysts? 

I do agree that the Big Ten Network broadcasters leave something to be desired.  Chris Martin is quickly becoming one of the worst in the busiiness--thank goodness for the mute button and the DVR so that I can roughly synch up the radio broadcast while watching the game.

No financial numbers yet on the deal.  The other major conference championship games are in the $12M to $15M range.  It will be interesting to see how much Fox Sports paid for this game and what the impact will be on the overall annual conference distributions to each of the programs.  College football programming has become pretty valuable as evidenced by the recent deals for rights to the ACC's football and basketball programs, Texas' sports network and BYU with ABC/ESPN.

In FY 2010 (ended 6/30/10),  the Big Ten paid $19.97M in conference distributions ($14.88M from television for football and basketball).  The sources of revenue for it were the existing television contracts, net bowl revenue, the NCAA men's basketball tournament with a small amount from other entities.  In FY 2011, the University of Michigan budget shows $22.19M estimated for conference distributions  ($16.59M from television for football and basketball).  If Fox Sports is paying the Big Ten something in the range of $18M, then that's and additional $1.5M per each of the twelve B10 programs before expenses or any other distributions.

This deal along with the ABC/ESPN renegotiation that was spurned by the additon of Nebraska will be the main drivers on the conference distributios for FY 2012.  I suspect the conference distribution figure will be in the $25M to $30M range for that year (although Nebraska doesn't get a full share on the conference distributions until 2015).  If  

The current ABC/ESPN deal runs through 2015, which means it along with the new deal to televise the conference championship game will both be up for renewal about the same time.

For information on Michigan's athletic budget, go to  http://www.regents.umich.edu/meetings/06-10/2010-6-X-17.pdf

 

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