The new deal will be a boost for the women's game, as three times the number of contests will be airedgetty images
The Big East today is formally unveiling its
new six-year media-rights pacts with Fox Sports, TNT Sports and NBC Sports, which was approved by school presidents. Allen & Co. and Proskauer were advisers on the deal for the Big East. Sources noted earlier in the week that the conference will see a moderate rights fee uptick. The existing pact was a 12-year, $500M deal with the Big East (an average annual value of around $41.67M).
Fox, which has been the conference’s lead TV partner since the “Catholic 7” broke off 11 years ago, will keep that position in the new deal (including coverage of the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament). Fox, FS1 and FS2 will air games as part of the deal that starts with the 2025-26 school year and runs through 2030-31,
showing 80 games each season between the men and women (FS1 is coming off its most-watched regular season on record for Big East men’s hoops; Fox was flat). The conference also had one of its best viewership figures yet for the Big East Tourney on Fox Sports. One area where Fox can look to improve is with getting more Big East games into the top 25 most-watched games for the regular season, as no Big East men’s games on Fox were on that list last season.
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Warner Bros. Discovery will have games under the new deal across TNT (the primary network in the deal for WBD), TBS, truTV and Max as well. TNT Sports will air 65 games across men's and women's hoops each season. Over on NBC Sports, the broadcast net will be airing games, but streaming will be predominant platform (60 hoops contests each season across TV and Peacock each season). Peacock will also be streaming games a season earlier than the start of the other portions of the deal, beginning in the fall (25 regular-season games and five early round/quarterfinal games in the men’s hoops tourney).
The new deal also is a boost for coverage of women’s sports within the Big East. Women’s hoops in the new deal will see 3x the number of games aired compared to the current deal, with around 65 games being televised during the regular season, as well as the complete Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament. Fox and FS1 both just came off their most-watched season ever for women’s hoops. Olympic sports also get a boost with the new deal, with championship events around soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball and softball getting windows.
