And the new commish is having to clean up the mess his predecessor left him.
Among the issues:
-
The Big Ten was selling off rights it did not actually control. Fox controlled everything through the Big Ten Network, and will continue to do so through 2029-30.
-
NBC was told it could have prime time night games in November. Big Ten schools had obtained prior agreements that they didn’t have to play night games in November due to weather, health and logistics, among other things. The recently announced game between Sparty and Penn State in the Lions’ roofed stadium in Detroit is an attempt to correct this, and the Suckeyes have also agreed to play an early-November game at home vs. Sparty.
-
The B1G is having to pay Fox back for some games that weren’t played due to the pandemic in 2020. They’re also paying Fox $40 million because the B1G gave NBC the rights to the BTCG when it did not have the authority to do so (due to the complete grant of rights to BTN mentioned above). Those two factors are combining to cost each BT school about $5 million.
-
Coaches are complaining that they weren’t consulted or even notified about the deal. Basketball coaches are particularly concerned about the number of games that will be available only via streaming.