Report: ESPN To Buy Second Half Of Big Ten Conference TV Rights

According to John Ourand of SportsBusinessDaily.com, ESPN will purchase the second half of the Big Ten Conference’s media rights.

Ourand reports that ESPN, which will way pay an average of $190 million a year over six years, will have the rights to around 25 football and 50 basketball conference games each season (similar as FOX Sports’).

FOX Sports, which paid around $250 million p/y, will carry the Big Ten Conference Championship Game and will have game selection advantages over ESPN, which almost certainly means that the coveted Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will move to Fox most years.

The Big Ten will see its average media rights triple with the combined six-year, $2.64 billion dollar deals with FOX Sports and ESPN.

CBSSports will continue to carry the Big Ten basketball tournament semis and championship game on through 2023.

[SBJ]