The CFP has decided to stay with ESPN for the coming years. The Athletic reported that the sports division of the Walt Disney Company and the power brokers behind the playoffs reached a massive extension on their current broadcast agreement. Starting in 2026, ESPN will pay $7.8 billion over 6 seasons for the rights of the playoff.
While there are two years left on the current deal, many questions circulated wether ESPN would want to or be able to commit towards keeping the most important games in college football. What makes next season different is it will be the first year of the expanded 12 team playoff, changing from the original 4 team playoff. ESPN who already has deals with UFC, Top Rank Boxing, major tennis, hockey, etc.. decided that the CFP will be worth the buy.
Another note that was made is that ESPN has the choice to sublicense games, which would most likely be first round, to another network or digital player. This is perhaps what the future of streaming looks like, with Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox comes into play. As this is all happening, nothing T.V related will be set in stone until the Pac-12 is settled, which right now is a conference shrinking to two members and is in danger of losing its seat at the Power 5 table.
8 comments:
How many other competitors tried out paying espn for these rights?
This is another article that proves that football and sports rule. It's wild that ESPN will be paying over a billion dollars for each CFP they host, but when you realize that 24 million Americans watched this year, the proof is in the pudding. Also considering ESPN's fumble deal with Barstool asnd their gambling site, they're going to need all the profits they can get.
The Pac-12 has completely fallen off the edge of the planet at this point. May as well merge into other conferences with the remaining few teams left.
Wow did not know the Pac-12 was on its deathbed right now. A lot of weird restructuring going on in college football right now.
It's interesting that ESPN is willing to pay a massive $7.8 billion over six seasons, starting in 2026, for the rights to broadcast the playoff, emphasizing the substantial value placed on college football content.
It will be interesting to see if they will continue to sublicense the games after the first round. I think it is possible that they could make potentially more money than hosting the games on their own stations.
What would the expansion of the CFP mean for ESPN and the profitability of the broadcasting rights?
With the rise of streaming platforms and digital media consumption, do you think that traditional TV broadcasting of CFB games will subside and become less dominate? How would this shift affect college sports as a whole and potentially make its way into professional sports?
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